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SEilxMONS 



ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 



BY GEORGE LEONARD, A. M. 

lATE PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN PORTLANU. 



TO WHICH IS PREFIXED THE 

REV. MR. BAB COCK'S SERMON, 



Occasioned by the Author's death, and including a sketch of hfs 
Life and Character. 



BY ABIGAIL Q^LEOJSTA^D 




P O SrT L AN D : 

Printed at the Office of Zion's Advocate, 

1832. 
O 



' f 



advertisement! 



This little volume is not published. A small edition 
is printed in compliance with the expressed desire, 
and for the special gratification of numerous friends, 
who are anxious to possess some visible memorial of 
a man of God, whose name and virtues they will ever 
remember wiih the fondest affection. 

A large number of manuscript discourses were com- 
mitted to the charge of the Compiler, and the task of 
selection, where the merits v;ere so remarkably uni- 
form, was extremely difficult. But for the result, as 
exhibited in the subsequent pages, he is not solely 
responsible. His choice has been approved and sanc- 
tioned by two of the lamented Author's most judicious 
and attached friends. 

The accompanying discourse by the Rev. Mr, Bab- 
cock, was obtained only by particular and earnest 
solicitation. For many reasons, it will be read with 
interest. 

The Compiler cherishes the hope that this volume 
will answer the expectations of all who have solicited 
its appearance, and that they will esteem it so highly 
as to be willing to render a liberal equivalent, for the 
benefit of the widow and die orphan. B. S. 

Portsmouth, ^V- H #n'? 25, 183.2. 



I J^ D E X. 

Mr. Babcock's Funeral Sermon, - - - - v 

SERMON I. 

The JVctture and Importance of Faith, - - - 1 
(Hebrews xi. 7:) 

SERMON II. 

The two Treasures ; or^ the righteous and the ) . . 
. wicked preparing for Retribution^ ) 

(Romans ii : 5 — 11.) 

SERMON III. 

The method and nature of Final Retribution^ 24 

(Romans ii : 5 — 11.) 

SERMON 'IV. 
God^s vindication of Himself^ 34 

(Isaiah lix : 1,2.) 

SERMON V. 

The folly and criminality of Indecision^ - - 45 

(1 Kings xviii : 21.) 

SERMON VI. 

.^^''aaman^ the Syrian^ .-.-----57 
(2 Kings v: 13.) 



JV , INDEX. 

SERMON VII. 

Regeneration a real and necessary Workj - - G7 

(John iii : 7.) 

SERMON VIII. 

The Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister ^ 86 

(1 Pe^er v : 2—4.) 

SERMON IX 
The same subject continued^ - 93 

(1 Peter v: 2—4.) 

SERMON X. 

The Claims of the Missionary Cause ^ - - - 102 
(Mark xvi : 15.) 

SERMON XL ; 

Some of the Moral advantages of Poverty^ - - 113 

(Markxiv : 7.) 

SERMON XII. 

The demands of the present age upon Christians^ 12& 

(2 Peter iii: 11.) 



A DISCOURSE 

OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE 

REV. GEORGE LEONARD, 

And containing a Sketch of his Life and Character ; deliv- 
ered in the First Baptist Meeting-house in SaletUt Mass. 
Lord's Day mornings Aug. 20, 1831. 

BY RUFXJS BABGOCK JUN. 



2 Timothy iv: 5 — 8. Make full proof of thy ministry : For 
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is 
at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith : Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give 
me at that day. 

In these or similar words, our dear departed broth- 
er would have probably addressed me, had it been in 
my power to gratify one of the last wisrhes of his heart, 
by being present with him at the time of his death. 
After having the previous day left in solemn charge 
with his attendants, for me to improve that event for 
the benefit of his friends in this place, he seemed after- 
ward, during the broken slumbers of his last night, to 
recur again and again to the subject ; sometimes call- 
ing for me by name, and at others inquiring with ear- 
nestness ^^ has he not come ?" When answered in 
the negative, he said, '' very w^ell," and seemed to ac- 
quiesce in the impossibility Ox' realizing this hope. 
Then rousing himself again, he said with great empha- 
sis, ^' tell him . . . tell him . . . " — but his utterance 
here failed ; and when his kind attendant inquired — ' 



VI FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

'' What shall I tell him ?" After pausing a few mo- 
ments, apparently realizing that his want of strength 
would not suffer him to go on, he faintly whispered 
'^ no matter, he will know." 

Ah, my dear brother and friend, how shall I know, 
but by the instructions of that sacred word, from which 
in hfe and in death, thou hast derived counsel and sup- 
port. I have sought this holy volume, and the words 
of the text have seemed to me peculiarly appropriate 
and affecting as the charge of a dying minister of 
Christ. Through this medium '' Ae, being dead^ yet 
speaketh,'^^ His faultering accents seem even now to 
vibrate on my ear, and I would bind them to my 
heart — '' make full proof of thy ministry, '^'^ This dy- 
ing commission — I will this morning endeavor to fulfil, 
so far as to lead your minds to a profitable improve- 
ment of the solemn and afflictive providence which 
has bereaved us. The intimacy and endearment 
which bound me to the deceased, rather fit me for a 
mourner, than for a teacher to-day ; and it is with no 
common feelings, therefore, that, in the discharge of 
this duty, I cast myself upon your sympathy and your 
prayers. 

The text presents to us the dying experience of the 
faithful servant of Christ ; and this experience as here 
developed, consists of three parts — 1. The readiness 
for departure. 2. The retrospect of his past course ; 
and 3. The anticipation of future blessedness. As we 
go onward in the consideration, of each of these par- 
ticulars, I shall feel warranted to use for illustration, 
whatever the experience of our departed brother has 
furnished appropriate to the subject. 

I. '' lam now ready to be offered ; and the time of 
my departure is at hand,''^ This time is often one of 
deep sorrow and gloom to surrounding friends. Espe- 
cially will it be so, when the individual about to be 
taken away, sustains interesting and important relations 
to those who' are to be left behind. When the father, 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. vU 



the companion, the guide and support, is about to be 
removed ; and especially, when the faithful Christie 
Pastor is to be separated from his flock, deep emotion 
is necessarily produced. Those who in such a scene 
' look on,' not having, and perhaps not earnestly seek- 
ing, the same assistance of the Spirit, as does the sub- 
ject of the change, are frequently far less reconciled. 
But it is generally the privilege, as it is always the du- 
ty, of the Christian to feel and say on the approach of 
death — " I am now ready, ^^ The same individuals 
may have been found among those '' who^ through fear 
of death were all their life-time subject to bondage ;" 
and never, till near '' the last distressful hour," have 
experienced those consolations which enable them to 
"^ death itself out brave." But it is usually then with 
them, a time of favor. He in whom they have trusted 
appears to deliver them, and in humble and holy tri- 
umph they exclaim '' though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of deaths I will fear no evil for thou art 
loith me." 

This cheerful readiness is not the result of necessity. 
It is not a yielding up of the will, merely because re- 
sistance is impossible ; but it is the cordial and free 
resigning of life to its Author and Preserver, whenever 
the intimation of his providence is given, that it is his 
pleasure to call us away. Habitual readiness for death 
is often spoken of, as the constant duty and privilege 
of Christians : and if by this is meant an eye that looks 
up continually to the great disposer of events, prepared 
at any and every hour to respond a hearty 'amen' to the 
declaration of his pleasure, such a preparation as this, 
it is undoubtedly the duty and privilege of every Chris- 
tian to maintain. But the absolute readiness for im- 
mediate death, is another thing ; and usually follows, 
rather than precedes, those indications of providence 
which enable us to ascertain that the time of our de- 
parture is at hand. 

The professed readiness of sonae individuals to meet 
death is often expressed in a vaunting and boastful 



Vlll FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

manner, entirely inconsistent with the nature of the 
subject. True Christian preparedness is always hum- 
ble, and seeks no opportunities for ostentatious display. 
The ground of this confidence and readiness for de- 
parture in every genuine disciple of Christ, is not his 
own personal desert of favor from the hand of God : 
But he is found thus, because, as described by the 
apostle Jude, he is ^' looking for the mercy of our Lord 
Jesus Christ unto eternallife,^^ 

Such was the nature, and such the ground of that 
readiness which our dear Brother Leonard in his last 
days manifested. Truth requires the admission, that 
until a short time before his decease, he had not ex- 
pected to be immediately removed. This impression 
had not arisen from any unwillingness to die ; but 
from his not perceiving what to him appeared clear 
intimations that it was God's will that he should now 
depart. He was not weary of life, painful and trying 
as some of its scenes had been to him. He was not 
tired of the employment which had been allotted him ; 
for winning souls to Christ, and building up saints in 
faith and holiness, was his delight. In the welfare of 
some of those whom he has left behind him, he had 
felt as a Christian pastor and husband, a father and son 
and brother should feel. But these feehngs, so just 
in themselves, but so often vicious in their perversion 
and excess, he had been taught properly to subordi- 
nate to the will of God ; and when by that will, he was 
called to yield them up, he did so without a sigh, and 
even entreated his weeping friends not to envy him, 
because he was so soon to enter into his rest. On 
that foundation which he had proclaimed to others as 
the only place of safety for the sinking soul, he repos- 
ed with unhesitating confidence, and God his Redeem- 
er, was the support and joy of his last moments. 

n. Another part of the dying experience of the ser- 
vant of Christ, is the review of his past course. Paul 
could say, not with boastful arrogance, but with hum- 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. IX 

ble gratitude and joy, '^ I have fought a good fight ; I 
have kept the faith ; I have finished my course,'''^ Noth- 
ing surely is more reasonable and proper, than that 
those who stand upon the elevation which seems to 
separate time from eternity, should cast their eyes al- 
ternately over both. And here it is especially, that 
the dying servant of Christ has the advantage over eve- l 

ry other character. The struggle in which he has 
been engaged, the faith in which he has reposed, and 
the course which he is completing, seem worthy of his 
immortal nature, and he cannot but humbly rejoice in 
view of them. 

What is every other contest for victory, compared 
with the '' good fighV^ of the Christian against sin and 
satan, the world and self ? Take even the most favora- 
ble specimen, the patriot hero, fighting and dying vic- 
torious for his country, or what is often misnamed, the 
field of glory. - How much, if he have time for reflec- 
tion, must there be found to embitter his joys ? How 
low have been his aims, compared with those of him 
who seeks a bloodless victory by self-control, and 
strives to emancipate his fellow-men from the bondage 
of sin and death ? With how much evil and suffering 
has the prosecution of his object been attended ? How 
uncertain also, and, in many cases how hopeless, is 
the final result of the cause for which his toils, suffer- 
ings and hfe have been sacrificed ? No such attendant 
evils, and final uncertainties mar the joys of him who 
has fought the Christian fight. 

And what are those systems of philosophy, or those 
discoveries in science, so laboriously obtained, and so 
proudly vaunted, what are they to the dying man, when 
compared with that faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ 
which gives to him that keeps it^ both peace and pur- 

^ To keep the faith, here seems equivalent to a form of expres- 
sion by the same apostle, Titus i : 9. *< Holding fast the faith- 
ful word as thou hath been taught. ^^ The idea is thus lucidlj 
»and forcibly expressed in an ordination charge by Andrew Fuller, 



X FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

itjr. And what to him, would be the remembrance of 
a course now finishing of worldly schemes and suc- 
cesses ? What, I ask, when held up in comparison 
with that course of usefulness to immortal souls, and 
of glorifying their Redeemer, of which the apostle 
here speaks ? 

Why God cuts short the course of some of those 
who appear so peculiarly adapted for extensive useful- 
ness, and causes them to finish it, w^hen it seemed but 
just successfully commenced, is among the dark things 
which it is not given us, as yet, fiilly to understand. 
it teaches us our entire dependence on God, and his 
independence of us — -admonishes us more highly to 
prize such servants as his gift, and to pray for their in- 
crease. Their early removal, by exciting and fixing 
the public attention on them and on their course^ has 
often made them greater blessings in their death than 
in life. But these and kindred considerations have 
been already presented to your notice in the addresses 
delivered in this place on the melancholy occasion of 
our dear brother's interment — nor is it my present 
purpose to enlarge upon them. Our united and fer- 
vent prayers should be continued that the benign re- 
sults above contemplated may be realized in our own 
experience of that Providence which has terminated 
the useful and highly promising course of this servant 
of Christ, whose early removal has filled our hearts 
with grief. Nor can I leave this topic of discourse 
without remarking, that although such a retrospect of 
the course, the fight, the faith — so far as these are 

** The gospel is a most sacred trust, and you must keep it. Not 
keep it back but keep it safe ; hold it fast in your mind and in 
your ministry. The best way to hold fast the truth as a minister, 
is to live upon it as a Christian. Attempt to keep it any where, 
but in your heart, and it will escape. If it be merely in the mem- 
ory, it is not safe. He that is reasoned into the truth, may be 
reasoned out of it. It is living upon the truth as a Christian, that 
will cause the heart to be established and the doctrine seasoned, 
with grace. » > 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XI 

concerned — is so pre-eminently delightful — and cal- 
culated to minister to the peace of the dying Chris- 
tian, yet of himself, and the manner in which he has 
fulfilled his duties; in each of these respects, he is of- 
ten constrained to speak with deep humihty ; and by 
the review is driven to rely more entirely on Christ 
and his righteousness. 

It was eminently so with our departed brother. Of 
his Christian character there was no one trait more 
strongly marked, than his habit of rigid self-scrutiny. 
It may be interesting to you therefore, to know what 
were his views, when the clear hght of the eternal 
world, which he was just entering, shone fully on his 
path. '' I fear," said he, 'Mhat the ardent desire 
w^hich I have cherished, to be intimately and thorough- 
ly acquainted with the bible — its original languages, 
and whatever concerned its critical interpretation, has 
sometimes misled me, by its excess, to a comparative 
neglect of other duties equally important. I ihought 
at the time, that my motives were pure ; but perhaps 
there was more of self-gratification, and less of the 
desire to glorify God and save immortal souls, than I 
then suspected. I would preach the same doctrines 
which have formed the principal theme-of my discour- 
ses — and that I could now preach them, from this 
bed of death, even to the ends of the earth — but God's 
will be done ! But I think I should try to spend more 
time in conversing and praying with famihes, preach- 
ing Christ from house to house, even if it obliged me 
to sacrifice some of my fondest pursuits in the study." 

Certainly, my hearers, it does not become me to 
decide, where this holy man, under such circumstan- 
ces, doubted. The golden medium between too ex- 
clusive a devotednes^ to study on the one hand, or a 
fatal neglect of it on the other, is undoubtedly the 
w^isest and safest course. But there are many things 
vvljich render the exact determination of this point, 
difficult to every Christian pastor— and especially 



Xll FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

difficult to those connected with a numerous charge — 
a considerable portion of whonn court more earnestly 
the frequent visits, and personal attentions of their 
minister, than his laborious preparation for the pubhc 
dispensation of the gospel. In these days of rehgious 
excitement and incessant importunity, there can be 
little doubt that the tendency is strongly to the con- 
trary extreme from that which this dying testimony 
acknowledges. And where one has erred by devot- 
ing too much time to the investigation of the Bible — 
a score have more grievously erred by neglecting it. 
From this retrospect, th^ servant of Christ turns. 

III. To the anticipation of his future blessedness. 
And it is — it must be most cheering, to put in striking 
contrast by their proximity, the service rendered, and 
the reward conferred. AJight^ how imperfect. A 
faith^ kept with alas ! how much wavering and fear. 
A course how short and how poorly filled. And then 
A CROWN. Not hke those crowns which were award- 
ed to the victors in the splendid games of Greece and 
Imperial Rome ; but " a crown of Righteousness.'^^ 
Theirs were composed of leaves w^iich would soon 
wither, or garlands of flowers which began to fade even 
while they entwined them around the brows of the 
conqueror. But his, who finishes the Christian course 
is an unfading crown. And who shall bestow it ? 
Not, as with them, some dignified hero — or some 
statesman celebrated for wisdom, who can impart a 
little of the renown he has acquired, to those who re- 
ceive honors at his hands, and then must himself fade 
and die like the crowns of victory which he bestows. 
no. The Christian will receive his honors from 
*' the Lord J the righteous Judge.'^^ Most appropriate 
it is, surely, that the crown of righteousness should be 
awarded by a righteous Judge, But wherein, you 
will ask, is the righteousness of rewarding with such 
princely honors, the services which are confessedly 
so imperfect ? It is all explained in the single word 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. xill 

*^ GiVE.^' This, connected with the character of him 
from whom the gift proceeds, solves all the mystery. 
^' II is too much for me to receive," said an humble 
and self-distrustful subject to his prince, who was con- 
ferring on him some signal mark of his favor, for a 
service which had long remained unrewarded. '<• But 
you forget," said his generous benefactor, '' that it is 
not too much for me to bestow." His rewards, who 
IS "the Lord, the righteous Judge,'' are indeed too 
much for us to claim ; but they are not too much for 
him to claim and to bestow, who bought us with his 
own blood, that he might make us " kings and priests 
unto God forever and ever,'' 

I desire to guard myself and my hearers, against 
that vam, yet ever eager curiosity, which would be 
anxiously prying into the scenes and events of the fu- 
ture, even to the neglect of the duties of the present. 
But m no case has my mind been more strongly drawn 
to dwell upon the probable employments and joys of 
a departed spirit, than in the present instance. On 
the morning, and at the very hour of his departure, 
the providence of God so ordered that I received in- 
telligence from him, which led me to believe that he- 
might be, as he was, even then, finishing his course 
So completely did this thought engross my mind, 
that for a considerable time, no other idea was wel- 
come, or scarcely tolerable. I was leaving this place— 
a scene of solemn and absorbing anxiety— for a few 
hours— for a single day. Was he leaving it forever'? 
I was traversing the way which we had often rode and 
walked together, and where the frequent memorials of 
our past intercourse seemed to rise up on every side 
around me. Wa^ he now tracing a different, a shin- 
ing pathway, with angels for his companions, and 
heaven with all its glories bursting on his sight ? Was 
he at that moment gaining unclouded nearness to that 
blessed Saviour, of -whom we had so often spoken, at 
whose mercy-seat we had bowed together, and whose 



XIV FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

honors and blessings we had unitedly endeavored to 
proclaim ? Whom having not seen ; he had loved, 
and whom beholding he was even now changed into 
his image, passing onward from glory to glory. And 
there too, was he meeting with some of those who had 
gone before him ; whom he had warned and guided, 
and helped on their way to heaven ; and who would 
now recognize and welcome their pastor to their bright 
abode, and give new glory to the Lamb for his joyous 
entrance into the celestial city ? While such scenes 
have passed before me, such blessedness for those who 
die in the Lord, earth with all its pomp and show — - 
its real and unreal charms — has seemed to shrink into 
its appropriate nothingness. Spirit of my departed 
brother ! dear as thou wast to me, and more cheer- 
less as this drear world is made by thy departure, I 
would not cruelly call thee away from those pure and 
holy joys which are now in thy possession. No, not 
even if one sigh would bring thee down, from thy 
palace to this prison, from the joys of sight and frui- 
tion to the bufFettings of faith and hope — I could not, 
dare not, utter it. Thy labor is past ; thy trials are 
over. We have wept together both in joy and sor- 
row — but thou wilt weep no more. 

Thus has it fared with the immaterial, the immortal 
part of one whose remains we recently carried forth 
from this place to the tomb. But even the crumbling 
remains of mortality are no longer with us. His own 
church and people have desired them to be deposited 
in their midst, where his last public services were per- 
formed ; and they accordingly rest this day beside 
those of Blood and Payson, of precious memory — till 
Jesus shall bid them rise. 

A brief sketch of the history and character of on^ 
who was honored by Christ and greatly endeared to us 
all, cannot but be acceptable. 

George Leonard was born in Raynham, Bristol 
County, Mass. August 17th, 1802. His father Mr. 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XV 

Eliakim Leonard, died in the faith and hope of the 
gospel, when George was not more than five years old, 
leaving behind him a fair, respectable character ; and 
a widow with seven fatherless children to mourn his 
loss. The mother of these children was (before her 
marriage) Miss Mary Williams, of Taunton, who still 
survives, and is an esteemed member of the 4th Bap- 
tist church in Middleborough. The following extract 
of a letter from the Rev. Silas Hall,*the early friend, 
instructor, and pastor, of the subject of this sketch, 
furnishes all the light upon his early history which I 
have been able to obtain. 

'^ When George was three or four years old, he 
was sent to school to me, and his studious disposition, 
the specimens which he gave of natural scholarship, 
and the uniform propriety of his conduct at that early 
period, occasioned an attachment in my mind which 
has never diminished. After some years, I removed 
out of the place, and George also went to reside with 
an uncle in Taunton. Here he was employed in labor- 
ing on a farm, and in a brick yard. The work proved 
superior to his constitution, and produced a state of 
debihty which obliged him to return to the house of 
his mother. This affliction was sanctified of God to 
. the awakening of serious reflections, which, by the 
agency of the Holy Spirit, led on to his thorough con- 
viction of sin and conversion to God. He once spoke 
to me of this sickness, as one of the greatest blessings 
which he ever received from above. During his sus- 
pension of manual labor, his time was more or less 
devoted to study, and he had nearly gone through with 
the Latin Grammar, when I returned to Raynham, 
and he again commenced studying with me. This 
was in the autumn of 1819. He made rapid progress 
in the languages, and by Sept. 1820, was prepared to 
enter Brown University. I suppose the whole time 
employed in direct preparation for the University could 
not be more than nine months. I was probably the 



XVI FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

first person to whom he told the pleasing story of his 
change of heart. This I obtained from him with much 
difficulty, on account of his characteristic reserve. 
Some little time after he had acknowledged that he 
had a hope, I took him with me some distance from 
home, where I was to preach the next day, with a 
view to examine his case more thoroughly. After re- 
tiring that evening, he related the commencement and 
progress of the good w^ork of the Spirit on his heart. 
He mentioned also a particular season of devotion and 
blessedness to his soul, which he enjoyed in retire- 
ment on a certain day when I attended the funeral of 
one of his cousins. I think it probable that this was 
the fullest history of his Christian experience which he 
ever gave to any one. I w^as more than^satisfied. I 
thought I could discover the powerful movement of 
the Spirit of God upon his soul. It was matter of as- 
tonishment how such a thorough work had been kept 
hid for so long a time. 

In the spring of 1820, I suggested to him the pro- 
priety of professing religion publicly. I found that his 
convictions of duty had fully prepared him for it ; and 
I therefore embraced the first opportunity of introduc- 
ing him to the First Baptist Church in Middleborough, 
of which I was then pastor, — by w4iom he was cor- 
dially received. As it respects his early character, it 
was during his whole boyhood, as it was ever after, 
strongly marked with steadiness, sobriety, decision, 
modesty and reserve. He was uniformly moral and 
exemplary. He early secured the respect and esteem 
of the whole neighborhood. I know not that he had a 
single enemy, or that any spake evil of him. Religion 
was to him an all-pervading principle, governing his 
feelings, thoughts, words and conduct. He appeared 
to know very deeply, the depravity of his heart, and 
the all-sufficiency of the Saviour's atonement. Often 
have we spent hours in conversing on the great things 
of our Heavenly Father's Kingdom. His excellency 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XVU 

was not exterior glitter, which produces its deepest 
effects at first sight. Acquaintance was necessary to 
discover his worth. His letters to me, after he com- 
menced his college life, and for some time after he 
completed it, were frequent, and always breathed a 
spirit of piety and devotedness to God. In relation 
to his character as a scholar, I have often said he was 
the best I ever had under my care. It is not usual, 
I believe, for scholars to excel both as linguists and 
mathematicians. But he went thoroughly through 
every thing he undertook, and made himself, with ease, 
master of every branch. He was in fine, a most val- 
ued friend and acquaintance of mine. I admired the 
uniform and exemplary course of his life, from his 
boyhood to the last of my personal intercourse with 
him. Our religious intercourse was intimate, long 
continued, and to me peculiarly interesting. Often 
have we bowed togetlier at my family altar, worship- 
ing that Saviour in whose divine presence he is now, I 
trust, enjoying the most exquisite bhss." 

With such a character, at the age of 18, he became 
a member of the University at Providence. Though 
his extreme diffidence for a time prevented his form- 
ing acquaintance extensively even with the religious 
students, yet I perfectly recollect the growing esteem 
and universal satisfaction with which he was regarded 
before his first year in college (which was my last) 
was conipleted. In reference to his general character 
and deportment during the whole period of his connec- 
tion with the institution, the venerable Dr. Messer, 
then its president, thus remarks — " During his college 
course, Mr. Leonard was my pupil. Teachable, 
submissive, reserved, punctual and conscientious ; he 
possessed those respectable talents, which, associated 
with diligent persevering habits — his second nature — 
seldom fail to become useful. His education was 
therefore learned ; and his religion, I mean his person- 
al religion^ was that exhibited in the glorious gospel of 



XVIII FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

the blessed God ; a religion which having already en- 
abled him lo triumph over the king of terrors might 
now, I trust, enable him, clothed in white, with a 
crown on his head, and a palm in his hand, to say to 
his friends what the Great Captain of salvation said to 
his, "- loeep not for me,'^^ 

In Sept. 1824, he completed his collegiate course ; 
and in the exercises of commencement day, he so 
fulfilled the honorable appointment which the Faculty 
had assigned him as to excite the most favorable an- 
ticipations of his friends and of the assembled guar- 
dians of the Institution. It w*as by the distinguished 
success of his effort on this occasion, that he intro- 
duced himself to the high esteem and lasting regard 
of the senior Pastox of this Church, by whose invita- 
tion, at a subsequent period, he first visited this \own. 

Having been previously approved by the Church 
of which he was a member, as a candidate for the 
Christian ministry, be spent a few weeks immediately 
after receiving his first degree, with the 2nd Baptist 
Church in Taunton, which was then destitute, to their 
unanimous and increasing satisfaction. Of the exer- 
cises of his mind, in reference to the great business of^ 
his life, the Christian ministry, I have been able to 
find no minute and authentic record. It seems that 
very early after he cherished the hope that his heart 
was renewed, and before his pubhc profession of re- 
ligion, " he had conceived the idea of entering the 
ministry." The conflict between his shrinking self- 
distrust,~and a sense of his duty to the Redeemer and 
the souls of his fellow-men, was long and severe. But 
a conscious integrity and singleness of motive in the 
undertaking, sustained him through all the-rugged patlis 
of self-denial and vigorous effort, to procure his edu* 
cation with his own scanty means ; and it was not till 
these were entirely exhausted, during the last year of 
his college course, that he could be prevailed with to 
avail himself of the proffered aid of Christian benevo- 
lence, 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XIX 

A short time after graduating, he was sohcited to 
accept the office of a subordinate instructor in the Co- 
lumbian College, at Washington. This he accepted 
with the distinct understanding that a considerable 
part of his time was to be devoted to Theological 
studies. After spending one year in this manner, gready 
to his own advantage, and entirely to the satisfaction of 
the Faculty with whom he was associated, on the 
opening of the Newton Theological Insthution he re- 
paired thither, and was one of the first students matri- 
culated in it. Of his connexion wnth both of these 
Seminaries, the senior Professor at Newton has kindly 
communicated the following testimony, as just in sen- 
timent, as it is felicitous and graphic in expression. 

''My acquaintance with Mr. Leonard commenced 
at the Columbian College, near the close of the year 
1824, soon after my return from Europe. The re- 
collection of him, ' like the memory of joys that are 
past,' is ' pleasant and mournful to the soul.' He was 
deeply conscientious. He was modest, and sympa- 
thetic ; guileless, and upright. He had the energy of 
Christian principle, and a sobriety that gave w^ei^ht to 
his words, and rebuked frivolity and extravagance. As 
a teacher, he was able, laborious, and highly respected. 
As a theological student, he exhibited such diligence 
and attainments as gave great promise of lasting use- 
fulness. The structure and habits of his mind were 
not adapted to make a prematura display, but to pre- 
sent, in due season, the fairest and most valuable fruits. 
He was not the man to rush into public life with the 
dazzling and transient splendor of a rocket, but to rise 
with a steady and constantly increasing lustre, and still 
to rise, shedding a benign influence upon the earth." 
In the spring of 1826, he visited Salem for the first 
time ; and for four or fiv^e Sabbaths in succession 
supphed the first and second Baptist Churches, then 
worshipping together in this place. He w^as soon ap- 
prized of the desire of the second Church and Soci- 



XX FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

ety, which had been recently organized, to secure his 
services as their Pastor. His characteristic prudence 
and reserve led him rather to discountenance than en- 
courage this flattering application ; and to the first in- 
vitation unanimously tendered him, he returned a 
respectful but decided refusal. The renewal of this 
invitation, urged as it was by their united and earnest 
entreaty, and the co-operating influence of those whom 
he esteemed his most judicious friends, induced him 
to re-consider this decision, and after another visit of 
more than two months, he signified his acceptance of 
the call of the Church and Society, and in August of 
the same year w^as ordained as their Pastor.^ 

Of the manner in which he performed, for more 
than tw^o years and a half, the duties of the sacred 
office in this town, it is perhaps unnecessary to speak; 
and it would certainly be difficult /or me to do so W'ith 
entire justice and propriety. The testimony of the 
apostle Paul, 1 Thess. ii. might much of it be applied . 
as descriptive of his discharge of the duties of the 
ministry among us. ' For yourselves, brethren, know 
his entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain : As 
he was allow^ed of God to be put in trust with the gos- 
pel, even so he spake, not as pleasing men but God 
w^hich trieth the heart. For neither at any time used 
he flattering w^ords, as ye know ; nor a cloak of cov- 
etousness, God is witness. Nor of men sought he 
glory. But he was gentle among you, even ^s a nurse 
cherisheth her children : So being affectionately de- 
sirous of you, he was willing to have imparted unto 
you, not the gospel of God only, but also his own 
soul, because ye w^ere dear unto^ him. Ye are wit- 
nesses, and God also, how holily and justly and un- 
blamably he behaved himself among you : And ye 

^The Rev. Mr. Leonard was married to Miss Abigail C. Nel- 
son, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Ebenezer Nelson, of 
Maiden, July 12th, 1827. She was at that tinae an esteemed 
Mienoiber of the first Baptist Church in Salem* 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XXI 

know how he exhorted and comforted and charged 
every one of you, as a father doth his children ; that 
ye should .walk worthy of God who hath called you 
unto his kingdom and glory.' 

So intimate, my hearers, was the relation of the 
two Societies, and so frequent was the reciprocity of 
services, which brought him and exhibited him and 
his messages to you, that this language of the apostle 
is scarcely less appropriate to us, than to the people of 
his immediate charge ; and I will submit it to the con- 
scientious judgment of every one of you, whether it is 
not literally true. Can his ministry receive a higher 
eulogy ? 

Several things deserve to be taken into considera- 
tion, in forming an accurate estimate of the result of 
his labors. His own consciousness of the want of so 
entire a preparation for this work as he desired : — his 
entire want of experience, and consequent self-distrust 
— his unaffected but sometimes embarrassing diffi- 
dence — and his connexion with a Society newly form- 
ed, and proceeding somewhat upon an experiment ; 
and liable, therefore, to form too sanguine expectations 
of immediate and distinguished success. When all 
this is viewed in connexion with a repeated failure of 
his health, of the same alarming character with that 
which has finally removed him, it will appear, I think, 
that his success was really greater than could have 
been reasonably anticipated. The Church was more 
than doubled the first year of his connexion with it, 
and continued to receive considerable accessions af- 
terward. 

In conducting the very delicate and often distract- 
mg question of a dissolution "bf his connexion with the 
Society, his regard for the integrity and prosperity of 
the interest with which he had been identified, were 
worthy of all praise. In this respect his example has 
always seemed to me an excellent model, and happy 
will it be for all our Churches when they have minis- 



XXII FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

ters like minded with him. He very prudently kept 
his purpose to himself, and having prayerfully consid- 
ered the whole subject, he tendered his resignation as 
their Pastor to the Society, when most of them were 
unapprized of his determination. When all the cir- 
cumstances of his dismission are taken into the ac- 
count, it is no small praise to say, that he left the 
Church and Society without making, and probably 
without leaving a single enemy to himself, either per- 
sonally or officially. This took place early in the year 
1829. 

The measures which he took to regain his health 
were at length crowned with success. He now ap- 
phed himself with fewer interruptions, and most de- 
voted assiduity to his studies, determining, as he once 
remarked to me, with his accustomed emphasis, that 
if he ever settled again, he would be able to teach the 
whole word of God. The vigorous application of his 
mind to the investigation of the Scriptures, aided as 
he now was by the past experience, raised him more 
rapidly in the estimation of the various congregations 
which he temporarily supplied, than at any former pe- 
riod. It was while he was thus engaged, rhat we 
w^ere laid under repeated and deep obligations for his 
valuable services in this pulpit, which, beside the occa- 
sional assistance he rendered, was twice for a number 
of weeks supplied by him — once in my absence on an 
important and toilsome agency — and once during a 
protracted illness. I cannot speak in terms of ade- 
quate commendation, my own sense of obligation to 
him for those services ; and your estimate of their 
worth was as flattering to him, as grateful to my own 
feelings. In every relation which he thus sustained, 
he showed himself a workman needing not to be 
ashamed, rightly dividing the w^ord of God. Alas ! 
when I remember that we shall hear his voice no 
more — that he will no more plead for us in prayer, or 
direct us and others in the way to heaven, I cannot 
but mourn, and deeply mourn our general loss. 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XXUl 

He received pressiJig invitations to settle in differ- 
ent places, both in this vicinity and elsewhere, several 
of v^hich I know he made the subject of deHberation 
and prayer. It was of choice, therefore, that he re- 
mained without a particular charge — though not with- 
out employment, for scarce a single Sabbath — until 
the last summer. He then visited, by request, the 
•Baptist Church in Portland — the result of which I will 
give you in the w^ords of an esteemed member and 
officer in that Church — 

Portland, Aug. 15, 1831. 

From the time our dear departed Brother Leonard first came 
to Portland, it has been, with us, in reference to him, a contin- 
ued scene of increasing interest. He preached to us for the first 
time, on Lord's day, 4th of July, 1830, and continued with us 
four or five Sabbaths. Every sermon seemed to increase the 
evidence that he was designed by the Great Head of the Church 
to be our Pastor. Before he left us at that time, a unanimous 
request was extended to him, by the Church and Society, to be- 
come our Pastor. He returned home to Salem, and after re- 
maining two or three weeks, again visited Portland. He had 
given us no answer. He did not the first time visit us as a Can- 
didate, but merely to supply our pulpit for a few Sabbaths. At 
this time he wished to understand more particularly the state of 
the Church and its several members. This he did in a most 
thorough manner. 

He spent with us, on his second visit, four or five Sabbaths ; 
his labors were increasingly satisfactory, and the evidence, that 
we had been directed in our choice of a Pastor, by the Great 
Shepherd of Israel, was most strikingly clear, All, both Church 
and Society, felt an interest and deep anxiety in reference to the 
decision he might make. He returned again to Salem, and soon 
addressed to the Church and Society a communication, stating 
what, if a connection should be formed,would be the general course 
he should think proper to pursue, and what he should expect on 
our part. His views met the entire approbation of the Church 
and Society, of which he was informed. Upon receiving our 
reply, he immediately wrote us, consenting to become our Pas- 
tor. The latter part of September, cr the first of October, he 
removed his family to Portland, and entered upon his Pastoral 
duties, under circumstances, to us, that were peculiarly encour- 
aging. Scenes through which we had passed for two or three 
jears, had almost distracted us, (which our departed Leonard 
Imd h^c&xm wqI\ acquainted with^) but now each one was trying 



XXIV FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

to see which could make the greater sacrifice for the good and 
peace of the Church. Our dear Pnstor now appeared more in- 
teresting than at any former time. Our house on the Sabbath 
began to fill up. Our Conference meetings were well attended. 
Whether in the pulpit, in the Conference room, or in our Church 
meetings, there was a perfect satisfaction. And as he became 
known, he rose rapidly in the public esteem. 

Soon after entering upon his Pastoral duties, an inquiry was 
instituted in. the Church, respecting the state of each individual 
member, which resulted in the removal or setting in order many 
things that had been out of place for a long time. In this work. 
Brother Leonard was much interested. He used often to say, 
that the Lord would not visit us until his house was put in order. 

During the winter many of his discourses were particularly 
addressed to the Church. He urged upon them the importance 
of waking out of sleep and calling upon the Lord. 

Lord^s day March 13th, he preached a very interesting dis- 
course from James 1. 22. ** But be ye doers of the word, and not 
hearers only, deceiving your own selves." 

About this time our religious concerns began to assume a more 
pleasing aspect. Our lamented Pastor remarked at the close of 
one of our meetings, that he was convinced there was not prayer 
enough offered. He urged upon his brethren the propriety of 
having some evening in each week set apart for special prayer 
for the descent of the Holy Spirit, and for a revival of religion. 
The next Tuesday evening, March 22, was set apart for that 
purpose. At this meeting many were present, and much free- 
dom in prayer was enjoyed ; and it appeared that the Lord was 
truly thereby his. Spirit. A similar meeting has been continued 
since that time. 

Lord^s day, April 3d, four were baptized and received into 
the Church by Bro. Leonard. On this morning a prayer meet- 
ing was commenced by the suggestion of our Pastor. 

Now several appeared to be borne down under the weight and 
guilt of their sins. 

Lord^s day, April 10th. He preached a solemn and faithful 
sermon, 1 Kings 18. 21. «' How long halt ye between two opin- 
ions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then fol- 
low him.'* He was very clear and discriminating in drawing 
the line between him that serveth God and him that serveth him 
not. This discourse was much blessed. At this time prayer 
meetings were held every morning. He attended one of these 
meetings on Tuesday morning, 19th April, and noticing a back- 
wardness in his brethren, remarked * that the prayers were nat 
fervent enough, to merely assemble would not answer, God looks, 
at the heart.' 



PDNERAL DISCOURSE. XXV 

Thursday^ the 2\st Aprils was the day of our State fast. 
Bro. Leonard preached in the forenoon ; his sermon was solemn 
and impressive. The Church continued together through the 
remainder of the day, and spent the time in prayer, remarks, and 
exhortation. At this season he was more emphatically solema 
and powerful in his appeals to the Church than he ever before 
had been. It was felt. 

Lord^s day April 24. Brother Leonard took for his text, 
Romans 2d chapter, and I think a part of the 5th to the 11th 
verse inclusive . He preached all day from this text. He ad- 
dressed the Church in the morning in glowing colours ; setting 
forth the treasures which christians were laying up for themselves. 
He presented the motives to stimulate us to this work. Among 
other things urged, the price paid for these treasures — the blood 
of Jesus Christ — the need in which we should stand, perhaps in 
a very short time — the blessedness and joy that it would afford 
us in afflictions and at death, to possess these treasures ; and in 
eternity, when all other treasures would be moth-eaten and cor- 
rupted. In the afternoon he warned the wicked of the danger- 
ous course they were pursuing, by treasuring up wrath against 
the day of wrath ; and that too they were doing under the same 
advantages of the gospel and all the means of grace which the 
Christian had ; while the showers and sun-shines, with which each 
were alike favored, were producing in one case fruit unto perfec- 
tion, in the other wrath against the day of wrath. All were ex- 
posed to instant death, and were in need of the same preparation 
for eternity. It did seem at the time that he could not let the 
impenitent go. Such were the force of his arguments, and such 
his earnest desire for their salvation, that it would have caused a 
Felix to tremble. 

In the early part of the evening of this day, he married a cou- 
ple — and came into our conference meeting soon after it had 
commenced. He took up the subject on which he had been 
discoursing through the day, and occupied the greater portion of 
the evening in the most powerful and pointed, yet affectionate, 
appeals to Christiana and to the impenitent. It did seem as 
though eternity was before us. It would truly be said *« how 
sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors." He 
sat down, and after one of the brethren had prayed, he arose and 
addressed the impenitent more impressively and more solemn, if 
possible, than he had done before ; and after speaking to them a 
few minutes upon death, judgment and eternity, in the most af- 
fectionate, earnest and solemn nsanner, he urged and warned 
them to prepare, prepare to meet their God. These words, 
uttered with a peculiar emphasis, were the last public address 
that ever fell from his lips. 



XXVI FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

It appears that some of his last sermons were blest to the 
awakening of several ; especially the last he delivered. His con- 
cluding remarks, prepare to meet thy God — were sent home with 
power to the consciences of some. 

Such being the esteem in which he was held by the 
Church and Society of which he was Pastor, who for 
the last, and probably in some respects, the most in- 
teresting- and useful year of his life, had beheld his 
course, and experienced the benefit of his labors, it 
cannot appear strange to you, that the announcement 
of his death, which was made to them the last Sab- 
bath afternoon, should have caused many tears, and a 
deep gloom to rest on the congregation. Well may 
they mourn. They had for a few months enjoyed no 
common blessing ; and their previous trials, for sev- 
eral years, had prepared them to prize it, and to real- 
ize how rare, in this fallen world, is the combination of 
excellent qualities which their dear Pastor -possessed. 
From others they may hear as thrilling bursts of im- 
passioned eloquence ; but will it be enforced by a life 
so consistent and so holy ? Others may, in a still greater 
degree, excite admiration by their manner of leading 
the devotions of the Sanctuary ; but in whom can they 
repose equal confidence, that the prayers offered with 
them and for them, are the sincere expressions of a 
heart full of ardent and holy desire for their best in- 
terests ? Others may preside with dignity and impar- 
tiality in the meetings of the Church ; but who will 
carry the full and certain conviction to their minds, 
that he did, of his true and consistent love, even for 
an offending brother — -of zeal for the honor of God, 
tempered by the kind spirit of Him who was meek and 
lowly in heart ? 

Severely has that Churoh, in common with the 
whole interests of Zion, suffered, for the fervor which, 
on that last Sabbath and Sabbath evening, carried 
their Pastor beyond his strength, and by the exces- 
sive effort, hurried him to the grave. How sudden 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XXVU 

and painful was the change ! Throughout that day, 
the dear people of his charge had been fed with choice 
intellectual and spiritual treasures which he liberally 
dispensed to them. They meet again in the evening 
and are dehghted to see their esteemed Pastor come 
in. They hear from him with renewed interest, and 
separate, saying to themselves or to each other, '' we 
never saw him so much engaged — never heard exhor- 
tations so powerful and impressive." He also retires 
from the meeting ; but it is, immediately on entering 
his dwelling, to safFer and bleed and strangle — to faint 
and ahiiost die before temporary relief can be afForted. 
The next morning spreads the mournful tidings. With 
anxious countenances and aching hearts they hasten to 
the door where he was wont to welcome them. But 
it is closed ; his medical adviser is wise and peremp- 
tory. '' The case is critical, he must not see com- 
pany." " Week after week passes away. They hope 
he is sonie better. They consent that he should leave 
theni to regain his health — and — the mournful truth 
must be told — most of them, after that evening, never 
saw him till he was wrapped in the shroud. 

It is in view of such results, which, with most 
alarming frequency, have multiplied upon us, that I 
am constrained to ask, w^as not the extra service of 
that Sabbath purchased at too dear a rate for both min- 
ister and people ? No unkpd reflection on either is 
intended, in this particular instance. Nor is the cau- 
tion here implied, by any means needed in every in- 
stance. But surely the light of past experience, ought 
not to shine on us in vain. 

The kindest attention manifested to him through his 
sickness by that Church and Society, and now gener- 
ously extended by them to his bereaved companion 
and child, are the best practical illustration of their 
high and consistent estimate of his worth. 

His mind, during the w^hole period of his decline, 
seemed usually tranquil. He thought much of others 



XXVlll FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

— of the Church, and of his friends — and, until the last 
week of his illness, comparatively little of himself. In 
the last letter which he ever wrote me\ with his own 
trembling hand, he says, '' I begin to think I know 
something of what sickness is, as I never did before. 
Though I have had no great joys during my sickness, 
I have generally felt resigned. I know it has been 
good for me and for our people. Things are very en- 
couraging among them. Between thirty and forty, I 
hope, have been converted since I have seen the flock, 
and many are anxious." 

In the revival here alluded to, which commenced 
just before his illness, and was promoted by a pro- 
tracted meeting which the Church had already ap- 
pointed, and for which he had been unceasing, in his 
efforts to prepare the way — he felt as every good Pas- 
tor must feel, the deepest interest. 

In accordance with an intimation given in the same 
letter, ' that as soon as he had strength he should jour- 
ney west as far as Raynham,' he left Portland about 
the 20th of June, and travelling by the easiest con- 
veyance, reached this town a few days after. While 
here, he saw but few of his friends, and made every 
effort and sacrifice to regain, as he said, ' sufficient 
strength to visit his poor mother, without too much 
shocking her feelings by his altered aspect !' How 
strong, even on the borders of the grave, was his filial 
tenderness ! 

Week after week passed away — and every hopeful 
expedient was tried, without materially promoting his 
convalescence. The journey to Worcester was then 
determined on. This was considered, by him and by 
bis friends, the last resort, and on its failure to improve 
him, he most cheerfully acquiesced in the will of his 
Heavenly Father. He was there surrounded by 
Christian friends, who delighted to render him every 

* Dated Portland, January 7, 1831. 



FU?fERAL DISCOURSE. ^ XXIX 

service whkh affection and sympathy could dictate. 
For all this he was grateful — but his eye, his thoughts, 
his heart, were now fixed above. When his suffer- 
ings were perceived to be most severe, and called forth 
the deep commiseration of those around him, he was 
wont to say, with the joy of heaven animating his 
countenance, 

** These sufferings are not worth a thought, * 
When, Lord, compared with thme." 

He spoke but little of this world, or of the scenes 
through which his bereaved companion and fatherless 
child would be left to pass, remarking that he wished 
to preserve Jiis mind calm, and free from agitating con- 
siderations. " Let that child, if spared to you, re- 
ceive a Christian education — that is all I desire — and 
to Him in whom I have believed, I can cheerfully 
commit both mother and child in hope." This was 
his last request, addressed of course to her who is 
now desolate. 

The words of the apostle, '' I know whom I have 
believed^ and that he is able to keep lohat I have com- 
mitted to him against that cZaj/," were often on his lips 
— and among the last he ever uttered. 

As soon as it was known in this town, that he was 
rapidly declining, the esteemed friends, whose hospi- 
tality he had here shared, hastened after him. The 
result of their errand of mercy was thus announced to 
us in a note written at Worcester, on Friday, August 
11th. 

'' We arrived here about 8 o'clock this morning, 
but too late by ten minutes to speak with Bro. Leo- 
nard — his happy soul having departed in peace to his 

Saviour."^ At a later hour the following morning, 

* 

^A few incidents of touching interest, having come to the 
knowledge of the Editor, he ventures here to introduce them, as 
worthy of remembrance. 

Only a few moments before his death, Mr. Leonard was asked 
if he suffered at all from the buffetings of satan. '•' O no, not at 

# 



XXX FUNERAL DISCOURSE* 

we gathered around his lifeless remains ih this place, 
to weep — but liot for him ; to mourn — but not as those 
who have no hope. May his bereaved family, and the 
people of his recent charge, be still borne on our 
hearts in sympathy and prayer, as on that occasion. 

In saying a few things relative to the character, tal- 
ents and temperament of this dear friend, I would not 
willingly deviate in the smallest degree from the truth ; 
but am perfectly aware that the throbbings of a heart, 
grieving over his recent loss, may cause the hand to 
tremble, which guides the pencil. From a conscious- 
ness of this influence, I have already adduced, more 
fully perhaps than would otherwise have been expedi- 
ent, the testimony of others, w^ho must by all be ac- 
knowledged as most competent, and impartial in the 
verdict they have rendered. 

all,'* was his answer. "I consider myself the happiest in the 
room." His wife perceiving a heavenly smile upon his counte- 
nance, said, *« You appear to be happy." ** I am," said he, 
with emphasis, «* I am. I have as much comfort as my feeble 
frame can bear. A full blaze of glory I could not endure." Al- 
lusion was made to his last exhortation to his people, which he 
concluded by repeating with a thrilling solemnity, the words, 
^^ Prepare to meet your God /" ^^ Prepare to meet your God!^^ 
'* Yes," he said, '* and when you retufn to Portland, do you re- 
peat them again. Say to them all, ' Prepare to meet, your 
God .'' " When asked if he still found pleasure in the doctrines 
which he had preached, and the Saviour w^hom he had recom- 
mended, he replied, '« I do ; and if I am cast off to the world of 
despair, I will there preach Jesus." As the lamp of life was just 
expiring, he commenced repeating the last stanza of a well-known 
hymn : 

*' Since all that I suffer shall work for my good, 
The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food ;" — 

He attempted to utter the remaining two lines, but his voice ^fal- 
tered, and they were repeated by another : 

♦ Though painful at present, 'twill cease before long, 

And then, O how pleasant the conqueror's song." 

Being asked if these words expressed his feelings, he smiled 
assent, and in an instant was gone — gone to join the song, and 
-to receive the crown, of the conqueror. 



FUJSERAL DISCOURSE. XXXI 

He possessed in an eminent degree the three cardi-~ 
nal virtues, integrity^ benevolence^ and prudence. This 
was never doubted by any one, favored with his ac- 
quaintance. Nor was there that disproportion, by the 
excess or deficiency of either of them, which so often 
mars the symmetry of character. In this case they 
were most harmoniously blended, and shed the benign 
influence of a holy example all around him. His love 
for the cause of Christ, for the Churches, for revivals 
of rehgion, and the salvation of the lost, was the ab- 
sorbing principle of his soul, controlling all his con- 
duct. He was the consistent and unwavering friend 
of all the great benevolent objects which distinguish 
this era of Christian enterprise. To aid in promoting 
them he willingly gave his time, his influence, and 
liberal pecuniary contributions. While residing here, 
he filled the office of Secretary of the Salem Bible 
Translation and Foreign Mission Society, and his an- 
nual Reports are confessedly the most able which this 
" earhest Association for such objects, among the 
American Baptists," has ever sent forth. They can- 
not be attentively read, without producing salutary 
effects. In 1829, the Minister's Meeting of Essex 
County sohcited a dissertation on ''the duty of 
Churches in reference to temperance." After being 
approved by the meeting, they ordered it pubhshed in 
the Christian Watchman. It was from his pen, and is 
alike creditable to his head and heart. It advocates — 
and what Christian could consistently do otherwise — 
the entire abandonment of ardent spirits — their use as 
a drink — their manufacture — and their sale. His ar- 
guments on this subject are pubhshed, and do not need 
my commendation. 

His talents were certainly less splendid, than sohd 
and useful. The testimony of all those, whose minds 
had been brought into close contact with his own, as 
his teachers,* and those most intimately acquainted with 
him, should satisfy the most incredulous of his decided 



XXXU FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 

claim to mental superiority. If we take his attainments 
in sound biblical learning, as the measure of his ca- 
pacity, few men of his age could claim to be his equals. 
A distinguished Professor in one of our Universities, 
who knew him early and intimately, remarked a few 
months before his death, that he had profited more by 
the study of sacred criticism, than any pastor within 
his knowledge. And yet, my brethren, you are wit- 
nesses wath w^hat humble simplicity, devoid of all pe- 
dantry, or of the apparent consciousness of superior 
qualification for the able interpretation of God's w^ord, 
he stood up before us, forgetting himself, and causing 
us also to forget every thing but the paramount claims 
of the message of Jehovah. His reputation as a preach- 
er was rapidly rising, especially for the last two years 
of his life : and though the pulpits of the several reli- 
gious societies in Portland were ably filled, yet I am 
most credibly informed that by common consent among 
the different denominations, his place was assigned 
him in the very first rank. In his view? of Christian 
doctrine, he was careful to call no man master ; but 
most conscientiously did he inquire, in reference to 
every article, " What saith the scripture ?" The res- 
ponse of the holy volume without abatement, without 
subjecting it to the torture of any Procrustean system, 
or squaring it by the dogmas of any sect, was the exact 
measure of his faith, the rule of his preaching and his 
practice. And it is cheering to know that this spirit of 
independent and free enquiry did not produce any of 
those wild vagaries, and pernicious errors which have 
been so much dreaded as its necessary or probable re- 
sults. Substantially the same doctrines to which hon- 
est and humble investigation led a Bunyan, a Fuller, 
anu a Hall in the land of our ancestors, and a Baldwin, 
a Williams, and a D wight in our own, were those which 
he derived from the same source, and faithfully incul- 
cated in his ministry. ^ 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. XXXIU 

The deliberateness with which he formed his opin- 
ions, made it rarely necessary for him to alter them — 
and this trait of character would have rendered him, in 
riper years, a most invaluable counsellor. 

His temper, either naturally, or by an early and per- 
severing cultivation of the graces of the Holy Spirit, 
was unusually even. He was easily grieved, — too 
easily for his own peace, — but he was not easily pro- 
voked. He could feel indignant at baseness, and yet 
forgive and pray for the offender. 

The social and domestic relations he so sustained, 
with such purity and propriety of affection, as to mark 
him out a bright pattern of amiable excellence. There 
is one especially, who while she finds her feelings 
soothed by the remembrance of this, finds also her 
sense of loss increased by it. 

In every endearing attribute of personal friendship, 
I cannot hope in all respects to find his equal, nor dare 
I trust myself to utter the sentiments which a full, a 
bursting heart, would this day dictate. 

While we deeply mourn, my friends, over the great- 
ness of our loss, let us not fail to study with care, and 
strive to improve by his example. There is no other 
path for us to the mansions of the blessed, but that of 
humility, self-denial, and active obedience which he 
has trod, — the path of holiness. In this requirement, 
there can be no dispensation, no abatement, for "with- 
out holiness^ no man shall see the Lord.'''^ How im- 
pressively should the removal of such a man, in the 
morning of life, say to each one of us, and especially 
to all the public servants of the Redeemer, ''make full 
proof of your ministry, "^^ Then shall each of them be 
able at last to adopt the language of triumph in ?he 
text — and to them individually it will be said, ^'Well 

DONE, THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER 
INTO THE JOY OF THY LoRD." 



SERMOJV h 



The nature and importance of Faith. 

Hebrews xi: 7. By faith, Noah, b^^ng warned of God of 
things not seen as yet, moved with ^ar, prepared an ark to the 
saving of his house, by the vvh'^^* he condemned the world, and 
became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 

One great object of the apostle in this letter was, 
by contrasting the two covenants, the old and the new, 
to show the superiority of the latter over the . former. 
In executing this purpose, whatever doctrine or duty 
contained in the neio seemed likely to stagger the faith 
of the Hebrews, he was careful to show that the same, 
or something similar, was inculcated in the old. In 
this way he endeavored to remove all objections. 
Knowing that they had been accustomed to sacrifices 
which they could see and handle, as well as to priests 
whom they could see and hear, and that they were 
ready to say of Jesus, as their fathers said of Moses, 
* we know not where he is gone,' the apostle takes 
occasion in this chapter to evince, that the same faith 
in things invisible which the gospel requires, was pos- 
sessed by ancient saints, who were '' Israelites indeed^^^ 
and '^ heirs according to the promise.^^ He first de- 
fines faith to be '' the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen^^^ and then proceeds to 
show how it operated in Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abra- 
ham, and numerous others. 

From this series of instances we have selected the 
case of Noah for your serious contemplation. His 
1 



2 The nature and importance of Faith, 

faith was strong, and produced a holy fear of God 
that resulted in vigorous action. Our object is to 
submit a few thoughts upon the nature and importance 
of faith. 

I. Its nature. It is here denominated '^ the evi- 
dence oj things not seen.'^^ It is a belief in objects not 
sensible, but invisible — objects of the existence and 
reahty of which we have no evidence but the testimony 
of God. Whatever sentiments he has revealed re- 
specting himself, his character, his government, his 
creatures, his purposes, all being true, a belief of them 
constitutes faith—for faith is a behef of the truth. Let 
us now see how exactly the faith of Noah corresponds 
with this definition — how adrnirably illustrates it. He 
was '' warned of God of things not seen as yet.^^ These 
were the flood and its tremendous consequences. In 
Genesis we learn that this premonition was given him 
an hundred and twenty years before the waters in their 
beds began to swell, or their floodgates flew open. 
Hence it was surely '' of things not seen as yeV by 
him. The manner in which the communication was 
given him we need not stop to consider. He was 
'' warned of God.'^^ He behoved, not a superstitious 
notion, not an idle reverie of the imagination, not a 
dream, not the declaration of a false prophet, not the 
suggestion of a heathen oracle, but the truth ; and he 
believed it wholly upon the veracity of God. His 
faith received no confirmation from reason. 

But could not his reason descend into '^ the foun- 
tains of the great deep'''* and discover there some secret 
causes at w^ork, some volcanic preparation, which 
would soon heave the ocean from its bed, break down 
the walls of its prison, and send forth a deluge upon 
the face of the globe ? Could not his reason ascend 
and discover, above the vast canopy of heaven, some 
mighty reservoirs of water ready to burst heaven's 
windows, and in torrents pour themselves down on 
this s^at of corruption and violence, in order to sweep 



The nature and importance of Faith. 3 

them away from the eyes of the Lord ? Could not his 
reason discover some necessary connection between a 
flood of immorality which had spread itself over the 
world, and a flood of waters to purify that world of its 
dark abominations*? Surely not. Before God warned 
him of the coming event, his reason did not even con- 
jecture such a thing — and when he had received the 
premonition, his reason could not deny its probability. 
He knew the veracity of Jehovah, and believed him. 

Far be it from us to intimate that right reason and 
revelation are at variance ; yet we do aver that there 
are many truths of revelation which reason never would 
have discovered had not Infinite Intelligence made 
them known to us ; and we say further, that there are 
many truths, even of revelation, which human reason 
cannot comprehend. And it is just as absurd for us 
now to ask reason what truths of revelation we shall 
believe, or reject, as it was for Noab to inquire how 
much of the divine communication in reference to the 
flood he should believe, and how much disbelieve. It 
is just as absurd now for reason to sit in judgment, not 
on the evidences^ but the nature of revealed truthj as 
for reason then to sit in judgment on the propriety of 
a deluge. It was not the office of reason then to 
descend into the fountains of the great deep to see 
whether they might be broken up, or to ascend into 
heaven to ascertain whether its windows could be 
opened — it is not the office of reason now to de- 
scend into the deep to bring up Christ from the dead, 
and thus learn how the dead may be raised ; or to 
ascend into heaven to bring Christ down, and thus 
gain visible demonstration of his present existence. 
No ; the word is nigh us, even in our mouths and 
hearts. This is " the word of faith which we preach ^"^"^ 
and the sentiments of this word are the objects of 
faith, and are to be believed, not on the testir^ony 
which reason may bear to their prohahility, ^ut on the 
testimony which God has borne to their truths by 



i The nature and importance of Faith, 

mighty signs, and v/onders, and gifts of the Holy 
Ghost. 

How often has unbelief prompted unsanctified rea- 
son to ask the question, '' How can these things be 9 
How could there have been such a flood as the one 
mentioned in Genesis ?" And doubdess the Antedilu- 
vians to whom Noah preaohed for an hundred and 
twenty years, supposed tljat they were rational men, 
and governed by the dictates of a sound mind. And 
how great, in their estimation, must have appeared the 
folly of Noah, who contrary to all appearances^ con- 
trary to what they regarded as the dictates of enlight- 
ened reason, was expecting a flood, to produce which 
all the waters on the globe appeared inadequate. No 
wonder, then, that he was regarded by them as an 
infatuated man, and that his preaching had no salutary 
effect on their minds. No wonder, then, if after hav- 
ing built his ark, he could find none of all his genera- 
tion to enter it with him and his family. How strong 
must have been his faith which held out so long, even 
in circumstances that would seem to forbid its exercise! 
For he was '' warned of God of things not seen as yef^ 
— unexpected, unnatural, and against which unbehef 
could urge many plausible objections. But the testi- 
mony of God removed every difficulty, and com- 
manded his unshaken confidence. 

Neither did his faith receive any confirmation from 
experience. But had there been no flood before ? 
Had he — had his fathers never known such a thing ? 
Was there then no historic account, no prevailing tradi- 
tion of a similar catastrophe ? Were there no vestiges of 
such an event upon the mountains, or in the vallies, or 
beneath the surface of the earth ? Was there nothing 
in his own experience, or in that of his predecessors, 
which could strengthen his confidence in the probabil- 
ity of a flood ? No, nothing. He was " warned of 
God of things not seen as yef^ by mortals. It is a 
trait of evangelical faith to believe, on the testimony 



The nature and importance of Faith. 5 

' of God, in things which the eye hath not seen, or the 
ear heard, or the heart conceived. 

How often are we told that of another world we 
can know nothing but by experience, and as none 
have ever returned thence to give us any account of 
its pleasures and pains, we are under no obligation jo 
beheve what the Bible professes to teach in reference 
to them. But, my dear hearers, have you never 
heard such an objection urged against repentance and 
a life of godliness? Have you never yourself urged 
it ? Observe now how exactly such a disbelief in rev- 
elation corresponds with the disbelief of the Antedilu- 
vians, and let us remember that it will be followed by 
consequences similar to those which resulted from 
their infidelity, only far more tremendous. 

Another charac^teristic of the faith of Noah is, that 
it received no confirmation from the nature of its ob- 
ject. That our passions influence our belief, is known 
to us all. We find it easy to believe an ill report re- 
specting an enemy, and difficult to believe such an one 
respecting a friend. We are easily convinced of the 
truth of a sentiment that favors ourselves or our par- 
ty, but not so of one that makes against us. How 
prone we are to justify in ourselves what we condemn 
in others, we may every day witness. Let us nov/ 
see whether passion had any bearing upon the faith of 
Noah. The truth which he beheved reauired liim to 

JL 

relinquish his worldly concerns, to make great sacri- 
fices of worldly ease, honor and aggrandizement, to 
subject himself to derison and contempt, to condemn 
the world on account of the corruption and violence 
which filled it, poisoning the springs of social and do- 
mestic life, violating the tender affinities of blood and 
friendship, and producing quarrels, intrigues, oppres- 
sions, robberies and murders ! Think for a moment 
how difficult it is to tell people their faults — to charge 
upon them the fraud and deceit which they sometimes 
practise — to hold up before them an exact image of 



6 The nature and importance of Faiths 

themselves, in which their moral deformities and im- 
purities are faithfully delineated. Think how difficult 
it is to do these things in a single instance without 
exciting hostility, and then say what but ill-will and 
hatred could have concentrated upon Noah, whose 
duty it was to condemn the world by his faith, and his 
wt)rks of faith ? Was there any thing in the nature of 
the case adapted to favor his faith or confirm it ? Did 
he not rely exclusively on the testimony of God ? 

Thus it is, that saving faith, like that of Noah, 
credits and lays hold of every revealed truth, what- 
ever its nature, whatever its tendency. Our inquiry, 
before allowing any sentiment, should not be, how does 
it agree with my wishes, my interest, my feelings — but, 
IS it revealed from heaven ? Alas ! What lamentable 
proofs are every day exhibited of the scarcity of gen- 
uine faith on earth ! To prove his own sentiments, 
one perverts ^scripture from its most evident meaning ; 
another rejects what will not quadrate with his pre- 
conceived opinions ; a third culls those detached 
portions of scripture which seem to countenance his 
views ; a fouprth denies the inspiration of the Sacred 
Volume altogether ; — while a few, like Noah, without 
any aid from human reasonings, or from experience^ 
or passion, receive the truth in the love of it. 

The faith of Noah was of an operative kind. Be- 
lieving God, he was ^' moved withfear,'^^ 

The fear which moved this good man, could not 
have been of a servile kind, for such fear is inconsis- 
tent with true piety. But his fear was oi a filial kind, 
which is a constant associate of confidence in God, 
and of a profound esteem and supreme love for him. 
This fear was productive of different emotions, ac- 
cording as it related to different objects. Was God 
the object of his fear ? It inspired him with solemn 
veneration, devout submission, and the inclination to 
cheerful obedience. Were his own deliverance and 
safety the objects of his fear ? It excited within him 



The nature and importance of Faith, 7 

constant apprehensions of sin, the deepest self-abase- 
ment on account of it, and a cautious diligence in using 
the proper means of salvation. Was the destruction 
of the world and of its inhabitants the object of his 
fear ? It inspired him with a tender concern for man- 
kind, with unwearied perseverance in preaching right- 
eousness to sinners, with a heart that never faints, a 
courage that never falters, in striving to save them. 
These emotions were not momentary, hke the waves 
of the ocean which pass away to make room for those 
which succeed, but they were permanent. For more 
than a century they gave a tone and character to all 
his action, conversation, and deportment. His be- 
lieving fear moved him to obey God — to prepare an 
ark for the saving of his own house, and to preach the 
doctrine of godliness to others, that they too might be 
induced to flee from the wTath to come. 

Let us, my brethren, try our faith by this same test. 
We profess to believe that God is a most gracious and 
merciful Sovereign — that benevolence characterizes 
all his dealings with us — that a regard for the happi- 
ness of his creatures moved his heart, and that right- 
eousness is the sceptre of his kingdom. Does our 
faith inspire us with love and veneration for him, in- 
duce a cheerful submisBion to all his will, and prompt 
to a faithful execution of all his commands ? Does it 
bring us as willing, obedient, and loyal subjects to his 
feet ? If not, it is worth just nothing. It is not the 
faith of Noah — it is not the faith of the gospel — it is 
not saving faith. We profess to believe that in the 
sight of God we are exceedingly vile, that we are nat- 
urally destitute of all true hohness, that sin has blunted 
all our moral sensibihties, and brought us into subjec- 
tion to spiritual bondage and death. Does our faith 
excite within us heart-loathings of ourselves, and pun- 
gent contrition and deep humiliation on account of our 
criminality ? Does it bring us into the dust, and then, 
with our hands on our mouths, cause us to cry '' guilty j 



8 The nature and importance of Faith. 

guilty^ guilty^ Lord, are we in thy sight ?" We 
profess to credit the sentiment of the bible, that noth- 
ing but the blood of Christ can cleanse us from our 
vileness — nothing biit his blood prepare us to receive 
the complacent regards, the loving favor of God. 
And does this behef lead us to Christ, and prompt us 
10 rely on him entirely, constantly and confidently ? 
Does our faith lay hold of Christ, and when vengeance 
calls for our condemnation^ does it hold him up as 
having suffered for us and become our righteous In- 
tercessor ? 

The scriptures teach us that sin w^as the cause of 
that rebellion which commenced in happy Eden — that 
sin caused this world to be rent from the great king- 
dom of God, and to restore which has cost the enor- 
mous price of the blood of the Heir of all his kingdom — 
that has entailed upon this world a curse which shall 
cling to it until the final conflagration — that sin has 
ruined, eternally ruined thousands and millions of 
immortal souls. All this we profess to believe. Does 
our behef excite within us a fixed hatred of sin, and a 
determinate resolution to give it no more place in our 
hearts ? And does it make us look with pity over an 
apostate, ruined world, and long to do something for 
'the recovery of man from his prostrate, miserable 
condition ? 

The scriptures teach us that there is a judgment to 
come — ^a judgment terrible enough to the wicked, but 
truly joyous to believers — that heaven will then be 
opened to receive the righteous, as the ark was to 
receive Noah — and that as by the hand of God the 
door of the ark was closed against the admittance of 
the ungodly, so by the same hand the gates of glory 
will be forever shut against all who beheve not in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. We declare that our faith em- 
braces the whole of this truth. But does our faiih 
move us to prepare for that awful day — that awful 
scene ? Like Noah, do we warn the ungodly, pray for 
them, and preach righteousness to them ? 



The nature and importance of Faith. 9 

It is to be feared, my brethren, that our faith is not 
so strong and operative as it should be. It permits us 
to remain too easy and inactive both as it regards our- 
selves and others. 

II. The importance of faith. By faith Noah 
was stimulated to prepare an ark to the saving of his 
house. Hence his faith appears to have been the 
instrumental cause of his preservation from the tre- 
mendous ravages of the floud. 

The charge which Jehovah brought against the old / 
world was, that it had become corrupt before him and 
filled with violence. The spirit of Abel, of Seth, of 
Enoch, was not possessed by the people. The love 
of God was not in their hearts — the fear of God was 
not before their eyes. Therefore the Lord resolved 
to destroy man from off the face of the earth. But 
Noah, for his faith, was excepted. He found grace 
in the eyes of the Lord. Had there been others, who, 
like him, had believed the warning voice of heaven, 
they too would have been excepted. And we verily 
believe that a small number of penitent believers 
would have averted the anger of the Lord, and induced 
him to spare the w^orld for their sakes. Could Sodom 
and Gomorrah have presented before the Lord ten 
righteous, they would have been spared. The repen- 
tance and lamentation of Ninevah, caused the Lord 
to revoke his sentence against her. Evangelical faith, 
at the present day, is preservative in its effects upon a 
sinful generation. The world is now corrupt, and if 
the active principles of human depravity were suffered 
to take th^ir own course, without check or restraint, 
it w^ould be as full of violence as it was before the 
flood. Unless there existed now some preservative 
principle, we should witness such a state of human 
society as called down the Divine wrath upon the 
ancient world. Except the Lord of Hosts had a seed 
to serve him — a seed who walk in the steps of believ- 
ing Noah, we should soon '^ beas Sodoniy and be made 



10 The nature and importance of Faith. 

like unto Gomorrah, " Yes, my brethren, just as soon 
as God shall have gathered the righteous out of the 
world, he will burn up the globe and all that it con- 
tains, and sweep away the wicked to hopeless ruin. 
^ By his faith,, JsToah glorified God, An eye that can 
look on sin as God does, and estimate its odiousness 
as he does, can understand, far better than we, how 
God, in the destruction of the world, declared to the 
universe his utter disapprobation of sin, and his love 
of holiness, and thereby added glory to his character. 
And while on the one hand, in the view of all holy 
beings, the flood will remain an eternal monument, of 
the wickedness of the world, on the other hand, it will 
remain an eternal memorial of the Divine holiness. 
And it is not difficult to perceive how the faith of Noah 
was concerned in presenting this monumental event to 
the world. 

A life of faith now brings glory to God — and all upon 
this simple principle, that confidence in him is the 
strongest method of recommending his veracity and 
faithfulness. If, instead of relying on our own strength, 
we cast ourselves on the arm of the Most High— -if, 
instead of leaning on our own understandings, we ask 
for wisdom from above to direct us — if, instead of 
living on our own resources, we trust in the mercy of 
Heaven — if, instead of depending on our own woi^ks 
for salvation, we rely on the finished righteousness of 
Christ — if we do these things, we say to all around us, 
and to aU who may hear of our faith, that we consider 
Jehovah as worthy of our confidence, and thus we 
honor him. But if we do otherwise, we dishonor 
him, for our conduct strongly suggests that he is a 
God whom we qannot trust. 

From what has been said respecting the operative 
nature of faith, we can easily see how necessary it is 
to any exertions for the advancement of the Divine 
glory. Had Noah not believed, he* would not have 
preached righteousness — he would not have built the 



The nature and importance of Faith. 1 1 

ark. If we believed what has been revealed, and were 
our faith of an operative kind, we should exert our- 
selves to bring sinners into the ark of gospel salvation. 

The faith of JS^oah was productive of personal sup- 
port and comfort. We haVfe already, though for a 
different purpose^ alluded to the sacrifices of ease, and 
worldly honor and aggrandizemcDt which Noah was 
obliged to make. These were doubtless great, but 
they were not the greatest of his trials. Poverty and 
hardship may be endured. But superadded to~ these 
to have no friends to synapathize with us, to commin- 
gle the tears of their affection with the tears of our 
sorrow, and above all, to be the objects of contempt 
and derision among all men, this, — this is trying in- 
deed. And it seems that such w^as the case with Noah. 
Though he labored long to convmce sinners, yet we 
have no evidence that a solitary individual — with the 
exception, perhaps, of his family— -received his warn- 
ings, believed his testimony, or became anxious to 
cast in his lot with him. But by faith he seized the 
promises of God. By faith he "• had respect unto the 
recompense of reward.^^ Such faith, even in his 
humihation, could diffuse over his countenance the 
smile of joy and resignation. This was the firm pillar 
of his support. 

But the comforts of faith are confined to no age — 
to the faithful of no country. The imitators of Noah 
enjoy them here and every where. When poverty 
now stares the believer in the face, he can sing with 
the good Habakkuk, ^' Mthough the fig-tree shall not 
blossom^ neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour 
of the olive shall fail^ and the fields shall yield no wheat; 
the flock shall be cut off from the fold ^ and there shall 
be no herd in the stalls ; yet loill I rejoice in the Lord, 
I will joy in the God of my salvation. The faithful 
are required to deny themselves in this hfe, to give up 
houses, and lands, and every thing agreeable to human 
nature — to expose themselves often to persecutions 



12 The nature and importance of Faith, 

and deaths. Ask them how they can submit to such 
privations and trials, and they will tell you that they 
'''live hy the faith of the Son of God^^^ relying on the 
Redeemer's assurance that whosoever should thus deny 
himself and forsake the t)bjects of fleshly endearment, 
shall receive in this life an hundred fold, and in the 
world to come life everlasting. 

Faith constituted JSToah an heir of righteousness. 
And there is nothing else at the present day — there 
will be nothing else at the coming day, that can give a 
title to this high honor. We become '' the children of 
God^^ only '' by faith in Christ Jesus. ''^ 

In conclusion, my dear hearers, let us for a moment 
think of the period when the Lord commanded Noah 
and his family to enter the ark. Seven days were 
allowed for the embarkation. O what a week must 
that have been ! For one hundred and twenty years 
his neighbors had been gazing and laughing at the 
prodigious fabric which he had been rearing. And 
now they see him entering it with all his household-—^ 
with birds and beasts and creeping things, and provi- 
sions for the sustenance of the whole. They must 
have felt convinced that he was sincere^ though their 
unbelief pronounced him superstitious. But what 
thoughts must have passed his mind, w^hen considering 
the speedy destruction which awaited them ! He can 
do nothing for them. He has borne his testimony, 
and they have rejected it. The time passes away ; 
but they continue eating and drinking, marrying and 
giving in marriage, till the final day arrived. And O, 
what consternation comes with it! The fountains of 
the great deep break up, the windows of heaven open 
— the w^aters from beneath and the waters from above 
meet together for the destruction of sinful man. But 
Noah is safe in the ark, and as he looks out upon the 
increasing waters, he beholds his neighbors in horror 
and dismay, some perishing, some beseeching for ad- 
mission into the ark, some hastening to the mountains. 
One act shut him in and them out. 



The nature and importance of Faith. 13 

My brethren, something very nearly resembling 
this, will soon be acted over again, and we shall behold 
it. ''As it was in the days of JSToah^ so sha{l it be at 
the coming of the Son of Man^^^ and they whdBe faith 
shall have constituted them heirs of righteousness, will 
enter into heaven, and the door will be shut. Unex- 
pectedly and suddenly will that day come, and who of 
us will be able to abide it ? Who of us will be shut in 
-—who will be shut out ? 

2 



SERMO]?f II. 



The two Treasures ; or^ the righteous and the wicked 
preparing for Retribution. 

Romans ii: 5 — 11. But after thy hardness and impenitent 
heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, 
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God ; who will ren- 
der to every man according to his deeds ; — to them who, by 
patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, 
and immortality ; eternal life ; — but unto them that are conten- 
tious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, in- 
dignation and wrath ; — tribulation and anguish upon every soul 
of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. 
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good ; 
to the Jew first and also to the Gentile ; for there is no respeet 
of persons with God. 

The Apostle is evidently speaking, in these verses, 
of the period of final retribution — the period when 
every soul, whether Jew or Gentile, shall be recom- 
pensed according to his deeds. '' The duy of wrath^^^ 
and the day of '' revelation of the righteous judgment 
of God^^^ mean nothing else than the day of judgment. 

This passage, therefore, teaches us the method of 
divine and final Retribution. It teaches us also the 
bearings of our conduct in this life upon our future 
and endless destiny. It assures us that some, by their 
hardness and impenitence, are treasuring up wrath, 
which, in the day of wTath, will issue in tribulation and 
anguish to every soul that doeth evil ; — while others, 
by patient continuance in well-doing, are laying Up a 
treasure of glory, and honor, and immortality, which 
shall be revealed in continual peace and happiness 
through eternity. 



The two Treasures, 15 

A judgment to come has something in it exceeding- 
ly awful, and we shouM ever approach the considera- 
tion of it with cautious and solemn feelings. Reflect ! 
Tjie day of judgment ! The trumpet of the gospel will 
then cease to be blown. The wheels of nature will 
then discontinue their movements. The fountain which 
has been opened for sin and for uncleanness, will then 
and thenceforward forever be closed. Repentance 
and remission of sins will no longer be preached in 
the name of Jesus. The book of accounts kept in 
heaven will have been filled, and it will then be open- 
ed for purposes of final settlement. The storehouse 
of glory and honor will have received all its treas- 
ures ; — the measure of iniquity will be full, and the 
righteous and the wicked will begin to draw' upon the 
treasures wiiich now they are laying up for eternity. 
Those treasures will never, in either case, be exhaust- 
ed. 

In our remarks upon this subject, three points will 
occupy our attention. 

1 . The preparation which mankind are making for 
the day oj judgment. 

2. The manner in ichich the Judge icill then recom- 
pense mankind, 

3. The nature of his retributions. 

1 . The preparation lohich mankind are making for 
the day of judgment. 

Some, '- after their hardness and impenitent hearts^'^'^ 
are treasuring up ivrath against that day. The He- 
brews used the term '' treasure," to express a store or 
collection of any kind, as treasures of rain, treasures 
of wickedness, treasures of wisdom, treasures of wrath. 
To treasure up wrath, is to accumulate and lay up in 
store those materials which shall be the occasion of 
future punishment ; and those who are employed in 
collecting together such a fearful trea^ire, are said to 
4o it under the influence of a certain state of mind — -- 



16 The two Treasures. 

hardness and impenitence. It is this condition of the 
heart which prevents us from making a right improve* 
ment of our blessings ; — which converts the means of 
salvation into the means of our own destruction, and 
which lulls us to sleep while on the brink of everlasting 
ruin. 

You will suffer me here to point out some of the 
causes of this hardness and impenitence of heart. 

A life of iniquity tends especially to the production 
of such a result. The commission of one sin gener- 
ally prepares the way for the commission of all sins of 
that class. The habit of thinking lightly of God, his 
law, and government, has a powerful effect in weaken- 
ing the impressions of moral truth on the mind.. Ex- 
cessive Jove of the world, avarice, and ambition, 
destroy the delicacy of the sensibilities, and lead us to 
confound the distinctions of virtue and vice. Wicked 
thoughts relative to the character and dealings of God, 
not less than wicked deeds, prevent his truth from 
affecting the heart. Early in Kfe does this hardening 
process commence. When the mind is susceptible 
and pliable, we begin to love the world supremely, and 
to indulge those unholy affections which always result 
in vicious conduct. As we advance, the world obtains 
a stronger and stronger hold upon the mind, and these 
unholy affections become more and more vigorous, 
and render us more averse to holiness, and more 
inclined to sin, and gradually less and less susceptible 
of moral and religious impressions.. Even the good- 
ness of God, which is fitted to lead men to repentance, 
by being abused, tends to hardness of heart. '' Be- 
cause sentence against an evil work is not executed 
speedily^ therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully 
set in them to do evil.'^^ Because they can commit 
one sin with impunity, they venture to commit another. 
Because they have escaped the punishment threatened 
against their sins for one period of time, they take 
courage to persist in the commission of sin, The 



The two Treasures. 17 

enjoyment of religious privileges, and attendance of 
religious duties, through the pride of the heart, con- 
tribute to increase this hardness. There is nothing, 
indeed, in the word of God— nothing in his worship, 
which is fitted of itself to harden sinners. The preach- 
ing of Christ crucified is by no means designed to 
render the heart callous. An exhibition of the suffer- 
ings of Jesus, which moved angels, and has caused 
thousands to ask ingenuously, what they must do to 
be saved, includes nothing that necessarily stupifies 
and indurates the minds of men. But by being abused, 
tl>€^e-thmgs do produce such melancholy" effects. 
Relying for salvation on the performance of certain 
duties, instead of looking to the Saviour — trusting too 
much to their punctuality, beneficence and honesty, 
men become vain, self-complacent, and shielded* 
against all the arrows of conviction which the truth of 
God can furnish. 

The consequence of hardness thus contracted is 
impenitence, or an " impenitent heart, "^^ Such a 
heart — a heart that does not relent under the impres- 
sive fore a of religious truth: — a heart that abides un- 
moved by the exhibitions of divine love, and the 
threats of divine wrath — is of all things the most to be 
deprecated. A heart that can compose itself to sleep 
when the word of God is read — when his promises 
are exhibited, and his threats denounced — when his 
voice is calling us, by both mercies and judgments, 
to awake and live — when heaven with all its joys, and 
hell with all its torments are portrayed to our view — 
a heart which, at such a time, can say, '' a little more 
sleep^ a little more slumber^ a little more folding of the 
hands to sleep'^^ — betokens its possessor to be ap- 
proaching,^with no very moderate strides, the region 
of eternal wo. By means of his hard and impenitent 
heart he is treasuring up unto himself wrath against the 
day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment 
of God. 

2* 



18 The two Treasures, 

I hardly know a more affecting description of an 
impenitent sinner than is here given. Without being 
at all sensible of the fact, he is laying in store against 
a coming world a treasure of vengeance. The use 
which he makes of every providence, whether favora- 
ble or adverse, tends to augment this treasure. Indeed, 
every thing he does, being performed with an impeni- 
tent heart, contributes to increase the fearful amount. 
And most rapidly does he enlarge this store of v^ath 
by his abuse of religious privileges, his neglect of the 
divine word, and his rejection of the Son of God. The 
impenitent thief probably made no small addition to 
his treasure of future wo, by reviling the Saviour, 
instead of applying to him for salvation, as did his 
companion. So long as eternity shall endure, he will 
unquestionably curse the day that he saw and abused 
the Saviour, who bled by his side. And to thousands 
and tens of thousands of others will the cross of Christ 
have proved a savour of death unto death, on account 
of the hardness and impenitence of their hearts. 
*' Tribulation and anguish^^^ says our text, shall be 
'' upon every soul of man that doeth evil^ of the Je^m 
firsts and also of the Gentile, "^^ Of the Jew first ^ or 
heaviest. And why ? Because he had been favored 
with the oracles of truth, and the diversified means of 
grace, all of which he had abused, and perverted to 
his own aggravated ruin. And every impenitent sin- 
ner, Jew or Gentile, by the thoughts of his heart, the 
words of his lips, and the actions of his hands, is daily 
increasing his guilt, and amassing fresh stores of wrath 
against the day of wrath. The fountains from which 
he derives his treasure are numerous, and they are 
continually pouring their streams into his reservoir of 
wrath. 

My hearer, is the case just described, yours 9 If 
your heart is hard and impenitent, the case is assuredly 
yours, and as such should be deeply realized. If the 
word of God, which is quick and powerful, have not 



^he two Treasures. 19 

energy sufficient to pierce your hard and impenitent 
heait — if it reach not the conscience, and break not 
the charm of this world, and rouse you not from the 
torpor of moral death, fhen is this case, this fearful 
case, indeed yours. If a view of the love of God 
melt not your heart — if his threats alarm it not — if the 
exhibition of heaven allures it not — if the prospect of 
hell excites it not to fly for refuge, then must your 
heart be proof against all moral suasion, and against 
all the efforts of finite power to affect it, and against 
all the force of argument which comes not with the 
demonstration of the Spirit and with power. It avails 
naught that you feel no alarm — no dread on account 
of the threats of the Lord- — for you are now only lay- 
ing up your treasure, and it is not expected that you 
will draw much from it in the present life. Now en- 
joying your good things, you are insensible of your 
danger. Your heart is hard and impenitent, and con- 
sequently it has no fears of punishment. We do not 
expect to see an unfeeling heart moved by considera- 
tions about which it feels no concern. We do not 
expect, till the measure of your iniquities is full, that 
God will visit your iniquities upon you. The very 
fact, therefore, that you do not feel or fear, is strong 
proof that you are treasuring up wrath against the day 
of wrath. Our text assures us that your treasure is 
accumulating \n proportion to the inveteracy of your 
hardness and impenitence. 

To all of this class, I would affectionately say, your 
case is extremely awful. It is so beyond description, 
beyond conception. You are amassing a store of 
wrath, and seem contented that it should be so. The 
day when God's righteous judgment shall be revealed- 
is approaching, and yet you are unmoved, unconcern- 
ed about yourselves ! Such, sinner, is the prepa- 
ration which you are making for the day of wrath. 

Others are pursuing a very different course, and 
laying up a treasure of quite another kind. By pa- 



20 The two Treasures^ 

tient continuance in well doing ^''^ they are seeking ''/of 
glory and honor and immortality,'*'^ Wisely calculat- 
ing, or rather believing that this is not their rest, they 
are little careful about their transient residence here, 
and, like strangers and pilgrinis, are seeking a better 
country, that is an heavenly. Before their eye, il^ 
lumined by revelation, the interminable scenes of 
another world He spread out. Believing this life to 
be only a state of trial and preparation for another, 
even an endless life, their object is* to accomplish the 
end of human existence, and thereby become ready 
for the appearing of their Lord. Hence, instead of 
seeking after the honors and pleasures of time, they 
are in pursuit of honor, glory, and immortality in a 
higher and better world. Their motives to obedience 
and holiness are drawn from eternity. They judge 
that course of life the most wise and consistent, which 
brings the largest revenue to their treasury of glory 
and honor above ; — and that to be the most unwise 
and inconsistent which barters immortality and eternal 
life for the pleasures of time, and regards not a pre- 
paration for the day when the wTath of God shall be 
revealed from heaven. 

The righteous are seeking for the glories of heav- 
en, and consequently they despise no proper means, 
and spare no possible effort, that may favor the attain- 
ment of their object. The very term seeking^ implies 
exertion. We should hardly say of a man that he was 
seeking after the riches or honors of this world, if he 
remained inactive, and devised no plans, and put forth 
no effort, to obtain them. So we judge of men in re- 
ligious matters. We never say that they are seeking 
a better country, unless we see them setting out to- 
wards it and striving to reach it. If God has appoint- 
ed his worship as the means of laying up treasure in 
heaven, then, in order to lay up this treasure we must 
meet for the express purpose of worshipping him, and 
of improving our own hearts. If God has given us 



The two Treasures. 21 

his word to sanctify us, to show us our duty, to make 
us free from the bondage of sin and death, and to fur- 
nish us with profitable subjects of meditation, then 
unless we read and hear his word with the honest pur- 
pose to gain instruction, and be made the better by its 
enlightening,, purifying influence, it will profit us noth- 
ing, not being mixed with faith in us who hear it. 
Until we hear and read his^word for a proper purpose, 
and with proper motives, and with proper feelings, the 
hearing of it, and the reading of it, will do us but little 
good. When heard and read aright, it is one of the 
most effectual aids to enable us to lay up treasure on 
high. And those who are seeking for glory, and honor, 
and immortality, find it a light to direct them, a rule 
to regulate their conduct, a basis of comfort in trials 
and afflictions, and a fruitful source of encouragement 
to persevere in the race set before them. 

It is by well-doing that these seek for the attain- 
ment of their object. By a holy, useful and exempla- 
ry hfe they pursue the narrow and strait way which 
leads to glory and honor. It was thus that Paul sought 
the crown of life — by self-denial, by crucifying the 
flesh with its affections and lusts, by keeping under his 
boij^ and bringing it into subjection, by prayers, by 
preaching, by writing, by incessant labor for the good 
of souls and the glory of his Master, by cherishing the 
spirit of the gospel, and by striving to exemphfy in his 
own temper and conduct, the power and practical ex- 
cellence of the doctrines, which he inculcated. So 
with-all genuine disciples of Jesus. By living above 
the world while in the world, by crucifying the flesh 
while in the flesh, by doing good though requited with 
evil, by exhibiting the power of godliness in their lives, 
and endeavoring to promote the cause of Christian 
truth and righteousness, they are constantly laying up 
treasure in heaven. 

Further, it is by patient continuance in well-doing, 
that they seek for glory, and honor, and immortality. 



22 The two Treasures, 

and not by an occasional good deed, or an occasional 
effort to serve God. A life of occasional piety adds 
very little to the heavenly inheritance-— pours very 
little into the treasury of eternal fehcity. 

It is a very happy description of a good man, that 
he is laying up treasure in heaven. There it is safe. 
It cannot be plundered, it cannot corrode, it cannot 
waste away. It is watched by Omniscience, and 
guarded by Power, Though his enemies may perse- 
cute him body and soul, and divest him of whatever 
in this world is dear to his heart, yet they cannot reach 
his strong hold where his treasure is deposited. It 
is not only safe^hui it is in readiness for him whenever 
he shall depart from this world of imperfection and 
sorrow. He will not then have to seek an inheritance, 
and find a home, and make provision for happiness. 
A mansion of glory will be prepared for him, which 
shall never decay. His treasure of immortahty will 
ever be open for the supply of his wants. 

Thus, while some, by treasuring up wrath are pre- 
paring for the day of wrath, and the execution of righte- 
ous vengeance, — others, by^ perseverance in well- 
doing, are preparing to receive the rewards which the 
Judge will distribute to all his faithful followers. • So 
exceedingly diverse are the objects which different 
men pursue. All are here hving together, enjoying 
the same privileges, surrounded by similar blessings, 
addressed by the same warnings and invitations, and 
yet, while one is laying up a treasure in heaven, anoth- 
er is accumulating a store of wrath. The one, by a 
right improvement of his judgments and mercies, is 
becoming daily more fit for heaven — the other by an 
abuse of similar afflictions and blessings, is daily be- 
coming more fit for the wrath to come. In a little 
while they will be separated from one another as far 
as the east is from the west, or as heaven is higher 
than hell. They must indeed meet again at the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ, but it will be with a wide differ- 



The two Treasures. 23 

ence of character and prospects — the on© to be freelf , 
pubhcly, completely, and eternally acquitted, the other 
to be as fully, publicly and eternally condemned — the 
one to be welcomed to the repose and bliss^ of heaven, 
the other to be banished to the fiery abode of the devil 
and his angels. 

O that men v^ould consider what it will be to find 
at last that all their treasure is wrath — wrath to the ut- 
termost ! Would they thus proceed in daily adding 
to this fearful store ? 

My dear hearer, this subject presents an important 
question for you to decide. Are you '' by patient con- 
tinuance in loelhdoingj seeking for glory ^ and honor ^ 
and immortality ?" Are you growing more heavenly 
minded, more ardently attached to the word and wor- 
ship of God ? Are you daily becoming more hke 
Christ, and thereby laying up treasure in heaven, that 
great repository of eternal life ? Or are you through 
a hard and impenitent heart, becoming more and more 
ijicapable of receiving moral and religious impres- 
sions — of being moved by the threatened judgments of 
the Most High — of being affected by all the melting 
love of God ? And are you not consequently treasur- 
ing up wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation 
of the righteous judgment of God ? Decide, each of 
you, decide this case without delay. Then shall 
w^e be prepared, by the afternoon, to pursue the sub- 
ject before us — to consider what the Judge of quick 
and dead will do with you in the day of wrath, • 



SERMOJV III. 



The method and nature of Final Retribution. 

Romans ii: 5 — 11. But after thy hardness and impenitent 
heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, 
and revelation of the righteous judgment of Gdd ; who will ren- 
der to every man according to his deeds ; — to them who, by 
patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, 
and immortality ; eternal life ; — but unto them that are conten- 
tious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indig- 
nation and wrath ; — tribulation and anguish upon every soul of 
man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. 
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good ; 
to the Jew first and also to the Gentile ; for there is no respect 
of persons with God. 

II. The manner in which God will recompense 
mankind. If, as was observed, this morning, some 
are hard and impenitent, disobedient to the truth, and ha- 
bituated to do evil, w^hile others are believers in Christ, 
and accustomed by well-doing to seek for glory, honor, 
and immortality — if there be sucji difference in the 
characters and pursuits of men, then a judgment day 
seems desirable — a day in which God will vindicate 
his character and conduct before the whole universe, 
and show that he loves and approves the right, and 
hates and disapproves the wrong. If men, under his 
moral government, are permitted to do evil, to injure 
one another, and practise every iniquity — if they are 
permitted to dishonor their Maker, to lay sin to his 
charge, to impeach his justice, his mercy and his 
truth — if the righteous are suffered to be persecuted, 
abused and killed by the wicked, then surely the 



The method and nature of Final Retribution. 25 

honor, the holiness of Jehovah require that there 
should be a day in which he may judge the world, and 
publicly display his perfect righteousness. 

A day of recompense seems necessary for him who 
squanders his protjation in pursuit of earthly treasures ; 
and not less necessary for him who, ambitious of pow- 
er anrd place, negl^^ts his soul's concerns, and by 
fraud, slander and falsehood, depresses his rivals while 
he elevates himself. God will have a day of reckoning 
with him who so indulges in sloth and sensuality as to 
corrupt his mind, and convert it into a house of pollu- 
tion, unfit for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If 
those whom God has elevated high in the scale of 
intelligences, labor to seduce their fellow-men from 
the ways of rectitude, to awaken in them suspicions 
of the gospel, and distrust of the Redeemer, to lull 
them asleep in impenitence, and to induce a final ob- 
livion of the soul's interests, of judgment and eternity, 
reason would that to God they should give an account 
of the use w^hich they now make of their talents. If 
the sinner, in spite of the convictions of his own con- 
science, and of the clear hght of revelation, struggles, 
by ingenuity and false arguments, to resist the force of 
truth, and support himself in unbelief and hardness of 
heart, reason teaches us that God must and will call 
him to Hccount for all these things. 

Besides, it seems necessary that there should be a 
day of judgment, in which the wonderful and perplex- 
ing events of Providence shall be explained, so that 
God may appear just when he judges, and be clear 
when he condemns — a day in which the secrets of 
every heart, and the mazes of every dispensation shall 
be unfolded in such a manner as to stop every mouth, 
and silence every murmur forever. 

To such a day reference is had in our text — ''the 

day of lorath and revelation of the righteous judgment 

of God ; who will render to every man according to 

his deeds ; to them who^ by patient continuance in well- 

3 



26 The method and nature of final Retribution, 

doings seek for glory ^ and honour^ and immortality ^ 
[he will render] eternal life ; but unto them that are 
contentious^ and do not obey the truths but obey un- 
righteousness^ [he will render] indignation and wrath; 
tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that 
doeth evilj of the Jew firsts and also of the Gentile. 
But glory ^ honour and peace ^ to every man that work- 
eth good ; to the Jew first and also to the Gentile ; for 
there is no respect of persons with God.'^^ 

The judgment, then, is to be universal. God will 
render to every man according to his deeds — tribula- 
tion and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil — glory, honor, and peace, to every man that 
worketh good. The expression, '^ to the Jeio first and 
also to the Gentile^^^ twice introduced, leaves no room 
to doubt that the Apostle is discoursing of the judg- 
ment of all mankind — for Jews and Gentiles compre- 
hended the whole race of Adam. Hence " the day 
of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of 
Godj^^ is the same as that of which the Saviour spoke 
when he declared, that before the Son of Man should 
be gathered all nations^ some to be rewarded and 
others to be punished. It is (he same as that to which 
the Apostle alluded, when he declared that 'Hve must 
all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ^^ — a day 
in which the personal concerns of all men will be 
brought to the last trial before the Judge of quick and 
dead, and irreversibly settled for eternity. 

From the justice of the Judge will none escape. 
Be they ever so great in their own esteem, no special 
deference will be paid them. Be they ever so small 
and insignificant, they will not be overlooked. Though 
in distress of soul they call upon the rocks to fall on 
them and crush them to pieces, on the mountains to 
bury them in eternal concealment, yet shall none 
escape the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and 
the wrath of the Lamb. From the grasp of omnipo- 
tence none can be delivered. He who has the keys 



The method and nature of final Retribution, 27 

of hell and of death, at whose command heaven will 
open all its infinite blessings to the enjoyment of his 
children, and hell will close its doors on the guilty and 
miserable — he will bring every soul into judgment, and 
none will be able to deliver from his power. 

Again, there will be no respect of persons with the 
Judge ; ^hat is, he will respect no man's country, 
kindred, dignity, office, wealth, or profession. Those 
who are wise after the flesh, whose talents astonish 
mankind, whose researches secure them admiration 
and applause; will not then be respected more than the 
man of less intellect and learning. The monarch, who 
in this life is flattered and idolized, and regarded by 
the millions whom he governs only with terror and 
awe, will then find his power and splendor, the pride 
of distinction and the incense of homage, all vanish 
away and command no more respect from the Judge, 
than the ignoble slave who now Hves on his smile or 
trembles at his frown. The child of fame, the con- 
queror of realms, the plunderer of nations, who can 
remorselessly trample multitudes to the earth, torture 
and give them to be food for the fowls of heaven^ will 
then secure no favor in consequence of his pomp or 
his power. Nay, the menials whom now he wrongs 
and oppresses, may then say to him, ^^art thou also be- 
come like one of us ?" The laws of society now require 
that respect should be paid to age, to talents, to office, 
to various forms of external condition ; but the gov- 
ernment of God, which is strictly moral and impartial, 
can take no notice of such considerations. Neither 
will a mere profession of religion, where the .power is 
not felt, and the fruits are not exhibited — where love to 
God and man reigns not in the heart, and developes 
not itself in the conduct ; be of any avail in the day of 
final retribution. No distinctions but those which are 
strictly moral will then be recognized. 

The human family, after being recalled- — thefr 
bodies from the dust of the earth, or the depths of 



K* 



28 The method and nature affinal Retribution. 

ocean, and their spirits from the invisible world — and 
after the living shall have undergone a change substan- 
tially the same as the risen dead will have experienced 
— the whole human family will be congregated before 
their glorified Judge. Then shall each one receive all 
that attention and impartial scrutiny of his deeds and 
motives, which he would receive if there were but one 
individual to be judged. If the examina*tion shows 
that the description of a good man, given by the Holy 
Spirit, belongs to him, he will be set on the right hand 
of the Judge. If otherwise, he will be placed on the 
left. 

Unbelief finds difficulties and objections in such a 
sentiment, and is often disposed, because such an 
event is incomprehensible, to pronounce it improbable 
if not impracticable. We are too apt, when contem- 
plating the character of God, to limit his presence and 
power within the narrow boundaries of time and space. 
But let us see if his perfect knowledge of what now 
takes place, his power which supports all beings and 
all worlds, his attention to the wants of every living 
creature, do not furnish reason to believe that in the 
judgment he may pay as undivided attention to each 
individual of the human family as though there were 
but one to be examined. It must be acknowledged 
that on the strength of his arm are suspended the mil- 
lions of worlds that roll in space, and that while his 
energy is at work among the suns and the systems on 
high, it is at the same instant impressing a movement 
and a direction on all the minuter wheels of that ma,- 
chinery which is working incessantly around us — that 
his wisdom gives exact and unremitting operation to 
those laws which uphold the unity and stability of the 
universe, and, while equal to the magnificent effort of 
preserving the order and harmony of the spheres, 
pours its inexhaustible resources over the beauties, 
and varieties, and arrangements of every scene, how- 
ever humble, every field, however limited, of the entire 



^e method and nature of final Retribution. 29 

creation. That tlf^e whole immensity should be replete 
with habitations of life and intelligence, is proof that 
^his benignant regard takes in the mighty circle of be- 
ings, while not a single family is overlooked by him, 
and every individual in every comer of his dominions 
is as effectually observed and provided for, as if he 
were the object of an exclusive regard. Men may not 
be able to attend to more than one object at the same 
instant of time ; but surely the infinite mind of Deity 
is adequate to grasp the whole amplitude of nature, to 
observe attentively its minutest objects, to ponder eve- 
Ty thought of the heart, and recollect every incident of 
<3ur inward and outward history. Him no magnitude 
can overpower, no minuteness escape, no variety be- 
wilder. While his mind is abroad over the whole 
vastness of creation, tbere is not one particle of matter, 
Tiot one principle of existence, which his eye does not 
observe as constantly, his hand does not guide as 
unerringly, his Spirit does not watch and care for as 
. vigilantly, as if it formed the exclusive object of his 
undivided attention. How extensive the field of divine 
operation, how vast the range of his power, bis wisdom 
and his goodness ! How attentive is he to the wants 
of his creatures. Not a sparrow falleth to the ground 
without his notice — ev en the hairs of our heads are all 
numbered. Every day, every hour, every moment, is 
each one of us, each one of the human family, yea, 
each one of all the beings which he has created, an 
object of his watchful, parental concern, sustained by 
his energy, guarded by his protecting care, fed by his 
bountiful hand ; — and at the same time his power, 
wisdom and goodness are expatiating in worlds never 
seen by earthly eyes, and lavished on being's innumer- 
able, each one of whom is as much the objecUof his 
attention, guidance and care, as either of us. 

Now, if such be the attributes of the Judge of quick 
and dead — if he so superintends the general and the 
pariicular interests of a dlversiiied universe, then wiiv 
3* 



so The method and nature affinal Retribution. 

may he not, at the final judgment, give particular at- 
tention to each individual of the vast assembly, and 
examine his case as thoroughly and impartially, as if 
he v^ere the only one that is to undergo the investiga- 
tion ? The possibiUty, then, of being concealed in 
the mighty congregation, entirely vanishes. ^' The 
eyes of the Lord are in every place^^^ and each indi- 
vidual at the bar of judgment will find those eyes fixed 
directly on him, searching Ws inmost heart, and taking 
account of his v^hole character. 

Ah ! my heai-ers, we shall come to judgment, not 
to see the conduct of others revealed, and their char- 
acters developed, and their destiny fixed — ^not to wit- 
ness the skill and omniscience of the Judge — not to 
see vengeance executed on our eneniies-^-not to glory- 
in the approval and justification of our friends — not to 
speculate upon the novelty and grandeur and magnifi- 
cence of the scene—but we shall <iome to have our 
own conduct revealed, and our own character devel-- 
oped, and to learn whatowr own destiny will be, and; 
what the sentence of the Judge respecting ourselves. 
We shall come with all the deep concern and solemni- 
ty writh which we should were we to appear before 
him alone, 

III. The nature of the divine retribution. The 
object of the Judge will be to decide whether we sus- 
tain the character of the saint or of the sinner — whether 
in this life we have been treasuring up wrath against 
the day of wrath — whether we have been contentious, 
obeying unrighteousness rather than the truth ; or, by 
patient continuance in well-doing, seeking after glory, 
honor and immortality — whether we have been habit- 
uated to do evil, or to do good — whether it has been 
our heart's desire to keep the divine commandments, 
or to gratify our appetites and passions. When this 
question is decided in regard to every member of the 
family of man — when the righteous are publicly justi- 
fied by the Judge so that no being can bring an accu- 



The method and nature of final Retribution, 31 

sation against them, or condem them, and all are com- 
pelled to acknowledge that the evidence presented 
fully authorizes the acquittal — when the wicked are 
publicly condemned, and the evidence on which their 
condemnation rests, exhibited in justification of the 
decision — when the whole universe has perceived and 
acknowledged the propriety as well as justice of their 
destruction — when all this has been done, then the 
Judge, together with all his happy followers — the 
angels who have faithfully served him, and the saints 
who have believed in him and loved and obeyed him, 
will ascend to the heaven of heavens, where he will 
present them before the Father as his own friends and 
children, the crown and reward of all his labors in the 
work of redemption. By the Father they will be ap- 
proved, accepted and blessed forever. 

At the same time w^ill go forth the sentence against 
the wicked, '^^ Depart from me, ye cursed^ into ever- 
lasting fire ^ prepared for the devil and his angeUi,^^ 
They will descend to the regions of wo, and com- 
mence the circuit of sin and sorrow, which shall never 
terminate. There the hard and impenitent will draw 
forever from that store of wrath which they have been 
treasuring up against that fearful period. Though 
now they live as if they had no apprehension of such 
scenes, yet when the store-house of '' indignation and 
wrath^ tribulation and anguish^^^ which they are daily 
filling up, shall be opened, and pour its accumulated 
vengeance upon their heads forever and forever, they 
will see and/eeZ that the divine retribution is perfectly 
equitable. What more just than that a man should reap 
what he sows — or live upon the treasure w^hich he has 
laid up for himself ? The righteous will be rewarded 
in perfect equity., for they have been laying up treas- 
ure in heaven, and that is the treasure from which they 
will draw forever. By patient continuance in well- 
doing they have sought for glory, honor and immortal- 
ity, and eternal life, glory, honor and peace Shall be 
their everlasting portion. 



32 The method and nature of final Retribution. 

The wicked, surely, can have no occasion for com- 
plaint. Had God been unkind, had his requisitions 
been unreasonable, had his invitations been deceptive, 
or his threats disproportionate to their guilt, and had 
he availed himself of mere poioer^ without regard to 
right or righteousness^ in condemning them to suffer, 
then might there be some seeming ground for dissatis- 
faction. But the reflection that they have offended 
him who is goodness itself, who has ever been atten- 
tive to their wants, and never demanded more than his 
due, w^ill torture their minds with remorse and self- 
condemnation. And what must be their sensations 
when they reflect that their ruin is the effect of iheir 
folly — that they w^ere all anxiety to obtain some trifling 
object, or shun some imaginary evil — all attention to 
present indulgence — all indifference to real evils, real 
interests, and imperious duties — intent on pleasing 
their worst enemy, and reckless of displeasing their 
best Friend ? Must not a conviction of their folly over- 
whelm them with' shame and everlasting contempt ? 
There are many circumstances under which sin is com- 
mitted, that serve to give it an aggravated character, 
and a reflection on these w^ill add no little keenness to 
the misery of the lost. Wisdom crieth in our streets, 
and understanding putteth forth her voice. Melting 
exhibitions of the love of God are set before us — -the 
solemn w^arnings of Heaven as well as his invitations 
are often sounded in our ears. If, therefore, under 
these circumstances, we should perish, our reflections 
will be like those of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Add to 
this the fact that the wicked w^ill have constantly be- 
fore them those persons whom, /by the forc'e of an evil 
example, they have drawn after them, not only into 
sin, but into hell itself, and you may understand anoth- 
er fruitful source of their misery. 

For such remorse and anguish are the wicked now^ 
preparing themselves, by sinning against God, by 
abusing his mercy, rejecting his Son, and aiding in the 
destruction of others. 



The method and nature of final Retribution, 33 

My hearers, in view of the solemnities of the judg- 
ment, I exhort you to consider what manner of per- 
sons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godli- 
ness. Keep in constant view the amazing events of 
w^hich we have spoken. Of them all you w'ill be 
interested witnesses. The voice of the Archangel you 
will hear, the Judge you will see descend, and seated 
on a throne, gathering the millions of the living and 
the dead before him. You will hear the sentence pro- 
nounced on the righteous and the wicked. You will 
ascend with your glorious Redeemer to the heaven of 
heavens, or be sent down with evil men and evil angels 
to the world of perdition, w^here age after age will roll 
away, and not a ray of hope glimmer through the 
cheerless waste to revive the wearied and dying eye. 
that ye were wise, that ye understood these things, 
that ye would consider your latter end. 



SERMON IV. 



God'^s vindication of Himself, 

Isaiah Lix: 1,2. Behold, the Lord's hand is not short- 
ened, that it cannot save ; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot 
hear : But your iniquities have separated between you and your 
God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not 
hear. 

These words were addressed to the Jews, who, in 
the preceding chapter, are represented as contending 
with God, because they did not obtain those deliver- 
ances for which they had often fasted and prayed. 
Though the Lord had commissioned his prophet to 
show the people their transgressions, yet he acknowl- 
edges all their apparent goodness. '' Yet they seek me 
daily, '^^ They were diligent and constant in their at- 
tendance on divine worship. They had a form of 
godliness. They omitted none of their prescribed 
devotions, and to know the ways of the Lord appeared 
to be their delight. Like Herod or the stony-ground 
hearers, they heard his word with gladness. The 
prophet was to them as a very lovely song of one that 
has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instru- 
ment. But though they heard his words, they did 
them not. They appeared to be a righteous nation 
xh^i ^^ forsook not the ordinance of their God,"^^ They 
^^ asked for the ordinances of justice'*'^ — the rules of 
piety in the service of God, and the rules of equity in 
their dealings with men. They even took ^' delight 
in approacliing to God^^ — much, probably, Hke the 
Pharisee, ^yl30 Avent up to the temple to pray, in order 



God^s vindication of Himself, 35 

that he might appear devout to others, and increase 
his own self-Gomplacency. But because God did not 
accept their offerings, and show some token of his 
approbation, hke Cain, they were displeased, and re- 
sentful. " Wherefore have we fasted j^^ said they, 
'' and thou hearest not ?" They had not only sought 
the Lord daily, but had fasted, like the Pharisee per- 
haps, '' twice in the week^^\ and they took it hard that 
God should not have shown them particular favor in 
return for such particular piety. They seem ready to 
charge him with injustice and partiality. They even 
seem inclined to renounce their rehgion as useless, 
and discontinue all connexion with the Almighty, be- 
cause he does not signify his approbation of their fast- 
ings and self-inflicted tortures. 

While indulging this repining temper, the prophet 
proceeds to designate the reasons why God had hid his 
face from ihem. ^' Behold^ the Lord'^s hand is n^t 
ihortenedj^'^ &c. 

The Lord Jehovah is jealous for his honor and 
glory. He will not allow that his creatures should 
think it owing to him that they are not delivered from 
evils and threatening dangers, or that his power is 
inadequate to save them, or that he is unwilHng to 
hear, when in affliction they humbly cry unto him. 
He will be known as a God able and wilhng to save 
to the uttermost all that come to him for salvation 
through Jesus Christ. He will have the universe 
understand, that, if we are lost in hell forever, he is 
clear, and we are justly condemned. Such appears 
to be the import of our text. It is a vindication of the 
divine ways and character — a declaration of the jus- 
tice, impartiality, and righteousness of his government. 
It is a throwing off of that reproach which the ungodly 
are but too ready to cast upon God. It is a charging 
home on them the causes of their misery here, and of 
their liability to eternal damnation hereafter. 



36 God^s vindication of Himself. 

Here we are plainly taught that God is both able 
and mlling to save us, and consequently that nothing 
but our sins and our unwillingness to come to him, 
can have the effect to separate between him and us. 

1. God is able to save. His " hand is not short- 
ened,'^^ The hand of the Lord is not unfrequently used 
in scripture to denote his power, so that this expres- 
sion means, the Lord's power is not abridged that he 
cannot save. He has ability to do all that for his peo^ 
pie which they need. If they are in danger, and see 
no way of avoiding it, — if, like the Israelites at the 
^ Red Sea, they are encompassed with difficulties, ap* 
.parently insurmountable, the Lord can make a way 
tor them even through the mighty waters. If they 
'' walk through the valley of the shadow of death^^^ the 
Lord can be with them, and cause his rod and staff to 
comfort them, so that they shall fear no evil. If prin- 
cipalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of 
this world, and infernal spirits rise up against them, 
the Lord can cover them with his panoply, and enable 
tliem '' to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, "^^ 

But further than this, he can save all from sin and 
endless sorrow, who look to him for salvation through 
his Son Jesus Christ* The Apostle John assures us 
that, " if ciny man sin, we have an Advocate with the 
Father ,, Jesus Christ the righteous^ who is the propitia- 
lion for our sins^ and not j or ours only,, but also for the 
dns of the whole world, '''^ He testifies also, that the 
blood of Jesus '' cleanseth from all sin,'^^ There is, 
therefore, no w^ant of ;)rot;mon in the method of salva- 
tion, so as to render God unable to save all such as^ 
apply to him for eternal life. The atonement posses- 
ses a sovereign and infinite efficacy which cannot be 
exhausted, the hope of the gospel is set before all, so 
that every one who will lay hold thereon may obtain 
strong consolation. And as the atonement is adequate 
in its provisions for the wants of all, so the Spirit is 
able to renew the hearts of all, to enlighten, to sanctify, 



God^s vindication of Himself, 37 

and comfort all. Hence the Lord declares that 
'' every one who asketh receiveth^ and he that seeketh 
findeth^ and to himthat knocketh it shall be opened,'^'' 
And that the Holy Spirit is included among those 
things for which we are here encouraged to ask, we 
learn from what immediately follows — '^ How much 
more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to 
them that ask him,^^ And the parallel passage in Luke 
is, '' How much more shall your Heavenly Father give 
^/le Holy Sfirit to them that ask him,'^'^ I would 
that every sinner were convinced that there is in God 
no deficiency of power to save. Have any ever 
trusted him and been disappointed ? Have any ever 
proved his ability to be inadequate ? Have any ever 
eome to Christ and been sent away empty ? Have 
any ever perished at the foot of the cross, because of 
the inefficiency of Christ's blood to wash away their 
pollutions ? Have any ever sincerely sought the 
Spirit's aid, and been told that the Spirit's aid was not 
designed for them ? 

Surely, then, if none have ever found the Lord un- 
able to save, none are justified in refusing to trust in 
him. And how does it comport with the character of 
God, who has revealed himself as an Almighty Sa- 
viour, — who has declared to his sinful creatures that 
he so loved the world as to give his Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him might not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life, to represent his salvation as adequate to a 
part only of the human family ? And how does it fall 
in with his character as a just Judge, to pass a more 
aggravated condemnation on those who neglect his 
salvation than on those who never heard of it, if the 
provision for salvation be not sufficient for all ? 
Wherein lies the guilt of refusing what was not in any 
shape 'intended for us ? If I felt as certain of an inter- 
est in the righteousness of Christ, asj^f its sufficiency 
for all men — as certain of its particular application to 
myself £LS of its unlimited efficacy and abundance, I 
4 



38 God^s vindication of Himself. 

should be without doubts and fears. I unhesitatingly- 
repeat it, then, that the Lord our Saviour has ability to 
do all that for his creatures which they can need. He 
can comfort mourners in Zion, liberate the captive, 
bind up the broken hearted, clothe the naked, feed the 
hungry, enrich the poor, who are poor in spirit, give 
vision to the blind, and such vision as will enable them 
to read their title clear to mansions in the skies. There 
is no one of all his creatures wi)o will perish at last 
because there is not a sufficiency of grace in the Lord 
to save him. No one can ever urge this as an excuse, 
that an adequate Saviour has not been provided. There 
is in him a plenteousness sufficient for all our wants. 
Are we cast down ? His merciful hand can raise us 
up, and lead us onward into green fields and beside 
still waters. Are we disconsolate ? In him are rich 
and abundant consolations. Are we in darkness, seek- 
ing the land of promise, but ignorant of the way ? 
The Lord can show us the path ofjife, and guide us 
in it, by his Spirit, until we reach Mount Zion above. 

The Lord dehghts thus to exhibit himself as a 
mighty Saviour, a sure Guide, a faithful 'Preserver, 
and a dehcious Comforter ; and whether we embrace 
him or not as our Saviour, whether we follow him or 
not as our Guide, whether or not v^e commit ourselves 
to him as our Preserver, and whether we do, or do 
not, look to him for consolation, he will be known as a 
God whose hand is not shortened that he cannot save. 

2. He is willing to save. His ear is not heavy, 
that it cannot hear. Though for thousands of years he 
has heard the cries and supplications of the poor, the 
afflicted, the tempted, the persecuted, the weary and 
heavy-laden, the hungry and thirsty, the widow and 
the orphan, — though thousands are daily and hourly 
crying to him for relief and mercy, — though they give 
him no rest, day nor night, yet is not his ear heavy, 
so that he is unable or disinclined to hear. Though 
thousands come as did the Pharisee, proudly boasting 



God^s vindication of Himself. 3& 

of their virtues, and acting the part of the selfish hyp- 
ocrite, yet when a publican-hke sinner approaches, 
the Lord hearkens to his cry, and shows his tender 
compassion. Commensurate with his ability is his 
willingness to hear and assist all who come to him for 
favor. Hence he invites us to look to him, for his 
invitations always imply a disposition on his part to 
aid those who accept his proffered kindness. Have 
you been in pursuit of earthly happiness, and after 
having been repeatedly disappointed, do you find that 
you thirst siill, and are ready to inquire with the people 
of old, '' who will show us any good ?" Where shall 
we find substantial felicity ? The Lord invites you to 
look to him, — to taste and see that he is gracious — to 
apply to him for the water of life and salvation, which 
b^ing once drunk, remaineth in you a well of water 
springing into everlasting life. Have you been toiling 
from year to year to lay up treasures on earth, — have 
you tasked your powers until you have become wearied 
and almost spent, and found at last that earth sup- 
plies no abiding felicity ? The Lord of Hfe and glory 
addresses you — '^ Come unto me all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden^ and Iicill give you rest. Take my 
yoke upon you^ and learn of me, for I am meek and 
lowly in hearty and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 
For my yoke is easy^ and my burden is light. '^'^ Have 
you been tossed upon a sea of trouble, and become 
disgusted wnth a w^orld of ingratitude, duplicity, and 
sin, lay hold of the hope set before you, and it shall 
prove to your soul an anchor sure and steadfast. Or 
have you been living in sin, till the mass which you 
have accumulated weighs heavily upon you, and like 
a burden presses you down not only towards the earth, 
but towards hell ? The invitation of the Lord is, 
^' Look unto me ^ and be ye saved. ^^ 

All such invitations from the God of mercy imply a 
readiness on his part to hear and assist all who accept 
them. On this subject we have what ought to satisfy 



40 God^s vindication of Himself. 

any mind — an express declaration of scripture, that 
God our Saviour " loill have all men to be saved qnd 
come to the knowledge of the truth,''^ No sinner, there- 
fore, can excuse himself for not embracing Christ by 
faith, by pleading that Christ is not willing to save 
him. None can say — none will say, in eternity, that 
God delighted in his death and consequent destruc- 
tion — -for saith Jehovah, '' I have no pleasure in the 
death of him that dieth ; wherefore turn ye and Zii;e." 
None of us, living as we do where the Sun of Right- 
eousness sheds his brightest beams, and where the 
waters of salvation flow so freely and purely, can neg- 
lect the Saviour of sinners, without being eternally 
harassed with the reflection — ^' I made light of him — 
I bartered Christ, and heaven, and my soul away, for 
a little of this poor, unsatisfying world." The very 
recollection of this will be like a drawn dagger to our 
souls, to pierce them through with the deadliest an- 
guish. 

If, then, brethren, the Lord is ready to hear and to 
save all who come to him through Christ Jesus, those 
who have, by the sweet influence of his grace, been 
enabled to embrace the Saviour, may take encourage- 
ment to approach their Heavenly Father, and rest 
assured that he is ever ready to hear their prayers. 
" If when loe were eneniies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son^ much more ^ being reconciled ^ 
we shall be saved by his life.'^^ Christ is ^' able to save 
to the uttermost all that come to God by him^ seeing 
he ever liveth to intercede for them.'''^ We need not, 
therefore, nay, we ought not to let our hearts be 
troubled — for God has never told us that we seek his 
face in vain. If we are visited by any affliction, we 
know that the Lord will not close his ear against our 
cry for relief, and if for the best, will remove the 
cause of our sorrow. If not for the best, we should 
cheerfully submit, knowing that all things shall work 
together for good to them who love God, If we are 



God'^s mndication of Himself. 41 

in want, he is willing to hear our petitions, and if for 
the best, to answer them by bestowing the desired 
favor ; if not for the best, we should rest satisfied 
with the assurance that the Lord will ^' give grace and 
glory ^ and withhold no good thing from them that 
walk uprightly, '^'^ Whatever we need, whether 
' temporal comforts and blessings, or the illuminating, 
guiding, and cheering influences of the Spirit, the 
promise is, ^' ask^ and ye shall receive ; seek and ye 
shall find, '^^ With this the experience of his people 
perfectly harmonizes. When have they sought the 
Lord in his appointed way, and sought in vain ? True, 
they have sometimes ivaited for his answer — they have 
been left to continue their cries till they had learned 
to appreciate the blessing sought, and to strive to keep 
it and improve by it when once obtained. But in all 
such instances, one hour's enjoyment of the divine 
presence and blessing has made ample amends, and 
reconciled them to the Lord's arrangements as the 
best for them. Yes, one hour's sweet communion 
with heaven has compensated them for all their prayers 
and tears, and for every delay. And what God has 
done for his people in times past, he will do now, for 
ijis hand is. not shortened, nor is his ear heavy. By 
the testimony of his saints, by the invitations of his 
grace, and by declarations unequivocal and positive, 
we are taught the sentiment, that Jehovalris both able 
and willing to save all who apply to him for salvation 
through Jesus Christ. He will not allow us with im- 
punity to think otherwise. He will make it known to 
his creatures — to his universe, that 

3. There is nothing in the loay of our salvation but 
our sins^ and our unwillingness to be saved by Christ. 
'' Your i7iiquitieshave separated between you and your 
God^ and your sins have hid his face from you^ that he 
will not hear^ Here is the true cause why any en- 
joy not the peace of God which passeth all under- 
standing—why any are in darkness without the light of 
4* 



42 God^s vindication oj tiimself, 

our Heavenly Father's countenance — why ^ny are in 
misery and will be in misery forever. Their iniqui- 
ties have separated between them and their God — have 
set up a wall of partition which makes enemies of those 
who would otherwise have been united by a bond of 
attachment which neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature could dissolve. While this mighty barrier 
exists between them and their God, there can be no 
correspondence between them and him. Their 
Pharisaical prayers and thank-offerings — their profes- 
sions of love to God and devotion to his service, can 
never reach him. The river of pleasure which forever 
flows from the right hand of God, and meanders in 
pure streams, refreshing and fertilizing his spiritual 
dominions, comes not into their souls, for their sins 
remain as obstacles to prevent the mercy. The light 
of the iSun of Righteousness is completely intercepted 
by their iniquities, which reach like mountains to the 
veryTieavens. 

Under the deceiving, hardening influence of sin, 
men refuse to observe the divine commandments, to 
submit to his gentle reign, to walk in the right way of 
the Lord. They resist the Holy Spirit, and walk 
after the counsels of their own heart, and in the sight 
of their own eyes. And since their sins have effected 
the mournful separation, they are unwilling to return 
to him, and seek his face and favor. But some are 
ready to say, '' our sins have separated us so far from 
him, have raised such barriers in the way of our return, 
that we cannot remove them or scale them, and there- 
fore cannot get back to God." Very true. That wall 
you can never ascend, you can never break down. It 
will stand an eternal barrier between you and your 
God, in spite of all your feeble, inefficient efforts. 
But what then ? Because j/ow cannot remove it, nor 
open through it a way of access to God, does it follow 



God'^s vindication of Himself, 43 

that no one can ? No. What you cannot do, Jesus 
has akeady done. He is '' the way^'^^ and through 
him we have access by the Spirit unto the Father. 
By him, therefore, every one who will, may come and 
obtain the blessings of eternal life. Great as are your 
sins, Jehov'ah says, '' Come now and let us reason to- 
gether ; though your sins be as scarlet^ they shall be as 
lohite as snow ; though they be red like crimson^ they 
shall be as ivool."^^ Nay, further, '' Seek ye the Lord 
while he may be founds and call ye upon him while he 
is near, -Let the loicked forsake his ivay^ and the un- 
righteous man his thoughts^ and let him return to the 
Lord loho will have mercy upon him^ and to our Godj 
for he ivill abundantly pardon,'''' Even your sins, 
therefore, need not longer separate between you and 
vour God. 

And now, what objection have you to plead why 
you should not immediately return to God and seek 
his salvation ? You cannot allege that he is unable 
or unwilling to save you. Nor can you plead that the 
number and aggravation of your offences are such as 
to render your forgiveness impossible. Do you abhor 
your sins, and desire salvation through the blood of 
the cross ? Does not the Saviour state the w^hole 
difficulty in your case — '' Ye will not come unto me 
that ye might have life ?" A love of sin, and an un- 
willingness to give it up and become holy, form the 
only barrier to the salvation of any and every sinner. 

Hence, in the judgment, God will be justified when 
he speaks, and clear when he judges. Then will he 
make it appear to angels, to all the armies of heaven, 
and to an assembled universe, that to save sinners he 
was both able and willing — that he sent his Son to 
atone for sin, and remove every legal obstacle to their 
salvation — that he offered pardon to every one who 
would accept it through a Mediator — that he sent his 
servants to call, and exhort, and entreat them to re- 
pent and believe the gospel — that he promised them 



44 God'^s vindication of Himself. 

the aid of the Holy Spirit, if they would only ask for 
it — that every necessary provision was made for their 
salvation — that all requisite encouragement was pro- 
posed — that their dangerous condition was freely de- 
clared to them, and after all they would not submit to 
be saved in the appointed way. And then, when this 
shall appear, to the sentence of the Judge, '' Depart 
ye cursed /" all the host of heaven will say. Amen, 

The wicked themselves can have nothing to say 
against this procedure. They will remember what 
the Lord did for them — how often he warned them of 
their danger, and invited them to look unto him and 
be saved — how freely salvation was offered, while 
they made light of it. Could they forget, and not re- 
proach themselves for slighting infinite love, they 
might obtain some little mitigation of their misery. 
And though now, my dear friends, yoii may think but 
little of the mercies you have abused, the privileges 
you have misimproved, the invitations you have slight- 
ed, the warnings you have despised, it will not be so 
hereafter, when God shall call you up to judgment, 
and show you the aggravations of your sins, and con- 
strain you to subscribe to the righteousness of your 
condemnation. Shall I tell you again, then, that you 
are in danger ? that the wrath of God abideth on you? 
This you already know. O be entreated, then, to fly 
for refuge to the hope of the gospel — fly to Jesus 
Christ, the sinner's friend and the sinner's Saviour. 



SERMOK.T. 



The folly and criminality of Indecision. 

1 Kings xviii. 21. And Elijah came unto all the people, 
and said, How long halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord 
be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him. 

The occasion of the Prophet's using this language 
was a painful one. The children of Israel had become. 
very much addicted to the worship of Baal. The 
prophets of the Lord had been cut off by tiie wicked 
and idolatrous Jezebel, and Ahab, one of the most 
infamous of kings, was anxious to rid the world of the 
prophet Elijah. At the command of God, the pro- 
phet, after having for some time lain hid, showed 
himself to Ahab, who immediately charged him with 
troubling Israel with drought and famine for the last 
three years. But Elijah boldly returned the charge 
upon the king ; and in order to prove the truth of his 
retort, he challenged Ahab to call all Israel together 
at Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal, being four 
hundred and fifty ^ and the four hundred prophets of 
the groves, who were fed at Jezebel's table, were to 
be assembled with the multitude. The declared object 
of this convention was, to decide the point whether 
Jehovah or Baal be God. Ahab accepted the chal- 
lenge, and issued orders accordingly. 

When the people were come together, Elijah ad- 
dressed them as in the text. They were undecided 
in a great matter. Some worshipped God, others, 
Baal. Some worshipped both, — thus, like the Samar- 



46 The folly and criminality of Indecision. 

itans, fearing the Lord, but serving their own gods. 
In this state of things the Lord directed Elijah, by a 
fair and public trial, to show the people the folly and 
wickedness of worshipping Baal, and their guilt in 
neglecting to cleave unto him as the Lord God of 
Israel. The trial terminated as the prophet expected, 
and the point might 'thenceforth be considered as ad- 
judged against all pretenders, for it was carried fairly 
against one of the most daring and insolent compet- 
itors which the God of Israel ever had, that the Lord 
Jehovah is God alone. 

Probably but few in Christian lands would now be 
disposed, like Ahab, to stand up in favor of an idol 
against the God whom Christians worship. Probably 
none present are disposed to reject the doctrine of the 
supreme divinity of that Being whom we are met tq 
adore. Yet there doubtless are not a few who, though 
they are r^ionally convinced that the Lord is God, do 
still refuse to follow him. The wicked Jezebel, after 
full proof was given that her idols had no strength, and 
that Elijah's God was the only true God, remained 
an idolater, and was so mad against the prophet that 
she threatened to take away his life. Though all 
Israel were convinced that the Lord is God, yet they 
were not converted to him — they consented not to 
his covenant, to become his worshippers and servants. 

There is a great want of decision among us, in re- 
gard to the most important concerns — whether we 
will serve God, or serve sin — be under the dominion 
of Christ, or the dominion of our own lusts — whether 
w^e will follow the Lord, or follow the fashion of the 
world. A stranger to human nature coming among 
you, and observing the manner in which you spend 
the Lord's day, your cessation from worldly business, 
your attendance at the house of God, the respect you 
pay to religious truth and ordinances, the help you 
afford for the maintenance of public worship, the in- 
terest you take in many institutions which have for 



The folly and criminality of Indecision, 47 

their object the difilision of light, knowledge and hap- 
piness in the world, the aid which some of you give 
in sending the glorious gospel of the blessed God to 
those who sit in darkness and in the shadow^ of death, 
might be ready to conclude that you are the devoted 
friends and w^orshippers of the God of heaven. But 
should he follow^ you home to your families and your 
employments, witness the temper of your minds when 
crossing accidents befal you, the tenour of your con-- 
versation and conduct, your little regard for the au- 
thority of the Lord, how^ little you consult him in your 
various avocations, how little .desire you manifest to 
advance his glory and promote the salvation of men- 
were he to witness the eagerness with which you seek 
after this world's goods, how seldom you shun any 
sin which you are tempted to commit, he would, to 
say the least, think that you are greatly deficient in de- 
cision, and v/ould hardly know whether you mean to 
make God or the w^orld your portion. Might he not 
justly conclude that you prefer the enjoyments of this 
world to the comforts of religion — that you are more 
anxious to lay up a treasure on the earth than in the 
heavens — to have an estate here than a mansion there 
—to have friends here than to have them there ? And 
yet, from the degree of attention w^hich you pay to di- 
vine things, he might possibly conceive that you de- 
sign ultimately to make sure of heaven. Many of 
you, I am persuaded, at times w^hen you experience 
some distressing affliction — w^hen the emptiness of 
earthly enjoyments is seen and felt — or when the 
shortness of hfe and the unexpected manner in which 
death may come, are duly considered — w^hen you 
witness the happiness of Christians in their dying hours 
arising from a firm confidence in Him in whom they 
have believed— -when you reflect on the unalterable 
allotments of the judgment, the fehcity of the righteous 
in heaven, and the misery of the wicked in hell, you, 
like Agrippa, are almost persuaded to be Christians. 



48 The folly and criminality of Indecision, 

You are convinced that pure and undefiled religion is 
necessary to support you in liie trying hour when heart 
and flesh shall fail you — that you must be washed in 
the blood of Jesus Christ, and be clothed with his 
righteousness, in order to stand with acceptance be- 
fore the Judge of quick and dead. You would be un- 
wilHng to enter eternity with your present character, 
your present hopes and feelings. But after all, you 
continue to neglect the great salvation ! You are seek- 
ing what you may eat and drink and put on, instead of 
seeking, as of the first importance, the kingdom of > 
God. • ^ 

Those of you who are in the morning of Hfe, are 
often wavering between your Creator and the world. 
Impressions are often made on your minds, which, if 
permitted to remaifi and work out their legitimate ef- 
fects, would soon lead into the way of life. But the 
pleasures and amusements of this life draw off your 
thoughts from the subject of religion. You are con- 
vinced that it is your duty to submit to the dominion 
of the Saviour ; but your inclination is to walk, at 
least for a while, after the counsels of your own hearts, 
and in the sight of your own eyes. Your soberest, 
soundest judgment is, that it is wrong for you to neg- 
lect your souls' salvation ; but your hearts incline you 
to follow^ the fashions of a gay and pleasurable life. 
Some of you have Christian parents and friends who 
desire your spiritual welfare, and to please them, it 
may be, you treat religion respectfully, and attend to 
many of its outward duties. But you have often 
friends whose society and friendship you esteem, and 
away from whom you must break, if you become reli- 
gious. Thus are you in a state of the most criminal 
and dangerous indecision in regard to the case of your 
souls. You are halting whether to serve God or to 
serve mammon, and perhaps vainly flattering your- 
selves that you may serve both. At one time you 
think you will be on the Lord's side ; anon you are 
altogether of another mind. 



The folly and criminalily of Indtcision. 49 

Some professing Christians appear to be in the same 
state of indecision. While they declare that they 
understand the evil of sin, there is a secret cleaving to 
it. They possess a double mind. The desire and 
prayer of their souls seem to be expressed against all 
sin in every shape, while there is still an allowed re- 
serve of something inconsistent with the light they 
have received. They are convinced that their happi- 
ness and usefulness w^ould be greatly Dromoted by 
living near the Lord, denying themselves, taking up 
their cross, and following Christ — that their own in- 
terest requires them to banish pride, selfishness and 
arrogance from their hearts, and warmly espouse the 
cause of the Lord Jesus. But they are not sufficient- 
ly decided, to induce them to forego the pleasures of 
sin, to humble themselves before God, to be obedient 
^nd devoted servants, as their convictions of duty 
W'ould incline them. The lust of the eye, the lust of 
the flesh, and the pride of life, exercise a tremendous 
influence over them. They contemplate occasionally 
the devoted Christian, W'ho walks humbly before the 
Lord, enjoys almost continually the light of the divine 
countenance, and appears elevated above this troubled 
sea of cares, perplexities and disappointments, and a 
sigh and a groan may swell their bosom because they 
so little resemble him. They see him feasting on the 
provisions of his Heavenly Father, and half wish they 
had an appetite to partake with him. They view him 
mounting up with wings like an eagle, running without 
w^eariness, and walking without fainting, and for the 
moment wish that the Lord would renew their strength. 
They see him successful, achieving one victory after 
another over the evils of his nature, and daily acquir- 
ing more and more of the divine likeness, and feel a 
pang of grief that they are so far behind. They see 
him leaving and forgetting the things that are behind, 
and reaching forth to those which are before, and 
pressing on tow^ard the crown of righteousness that is 
5 



60 The folly and criminality of Indecision. 

laid up for him, and seem not a little excited to in- 
creasing diligence. But the great difficulty with them 
is, they are not decided to be on the Lord's side. 
They have not resolution enough to arise and in the 
strength of the Lord to go forward. They are not 
willing to break entirely the chains of this world. They 
would like to reap the harvest without the labor of 
cultivation. 

But to show that there is no just occasion for this 
halting, I obSbrve that both your duty and interest re- 
quire you to be decided in following Christ. This 
point has been settled by actual experiment. After 
the fair trial which was made, whether the Lord or 
Baal be God, little room was left for doubt whose ser- 
vice ought to be preferred. The cause of Jehovah is 
so incontestably just that it need not, it does not fear to 
have its evidences of truth and equity investigated. 
The prophet Elijah feared not the examination, even 
though all the external advantages seemed on the side 
of Baal. The king, the court and the people were on 
the side of Baal, all countenanced by eight hundred 
and fifty prophets, who of course were chief managers 
in the trial. The manager of the cause of Jehovah 
was only one man, the same that was just before a 
poor, half-starved exile. Baal's friends were allowed 
the precedency, and the whole day Vv as given them to 
accomplish their utmost. After spending the day in 
efforts to secure some visible manifestation of favor 
from their deity, and utterly failing in their attempt, 
the prophet Elijah, having put all things in order, 
called upon his God, and an answer was speedily 
granted. The people were so convinced that they 
twice shouted, '' The Lord^ he is God,'''^ 

The cause of the Lord is still as indisputably righ- 
teous as ever, and it dreads no investigation of its au- 
thenticity, truth, and importance. That the cause of 
Christianitv is ihe cause of the God of heaven, we 
can need no other proof than is furnished by its per- 



The folly and criminality of Indecision. 51 

petuity and advancement in the world from the days of 
the Lord Jesus to the present time. On this point it 
is unnecessary to dwell. The outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit on many places round about us at the present 
time, when duly considered, brings as convincing proof 
to our minds that the Lord God is in the work, as the 
descent of fire on Elijah's sacrifice, brought to the 
minds of the people that the Lord is God. You have 
yourselves seen enough to le^ve you without doubts 
upon this subject, if you should see nothing more till 
the judgment day. Possibly, however, some of you 
may have "Wondered and despised, and consequently 
been unable to find out the work which the Lord has 
wrought in the midst of you. And those who have 
declared it to you have seemed to you to be beside 
themselves. You have reason to beware, if this be 
your case, lest you perish while the*work of salvation 
is. going on around you, and the Saviour is in your very 
midst. 

Many of you have learned, by actual experience, 
that it is not for your interest to trust in the world for 
happiness. You have seen seasons when the world 
appeared of httle worth. When you have contem- 
plated that awful scene predicted in the word of God, 
w^hen all that is earthly shall be wrapped in flames and 
pass forever away, you have said in your souls that a 
treasure on earth is not sufficient. When by affliction, 
especially by disease, you have been disqualified for 
the enjoyment of the world, and in prospect of a near 
eternity, found yourselves full of disquieting apprehen- 
sions, your consciences have told you that you have 
acted against your own duty and interest, when to the 
neglect of Christ you have followed the counsels of 
your own hearts. And those of you w^ho have not 
seen or felt the emptiness of earthly enjoyments, have 
seen enough to convince you that mammon is not the 
deity whom you should adore. You have the testimo- 
Dj of those who have enjoyed .as much of the world 



52 The folly and criminality of Indecision, 

as it is possible for any to enjoy, that it is all vanity 
and vexation of spirit — that its sweetest pleasures are 
but snares to the soul — that their invariable effect is 
to alienate from God and prepare for ruin. You have 
witnessed those on whom the world has conferred its 
favors, in the hour of affliction and of death, longing 
for something more. You have seen how little the 
world can do — how suddenly all comfort has jSied, and 
all hope has vanished avvay. And when you have seen 
them pass off into eternity Christless and unsanctified, 
you have inquired, '^ What shall it profit a man if he 
gain the ivhole world and lose his own soul ? Or^ what 
shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" When 
the Lord has come near to you, and removed some 
near relative or friend, you have found it as unavailing 
to look to the world for support and comfort under 
the affliction, as *Baal's prophets did to cry to him 
from morning till noon, and from noon till the time of 
the evening sacrifice, for fire to descend and consume 
their offering. 

You have, on the contrary, witnessed enough to 
show you that to follow the Lord will secure your 
happiness here, and your salvation hereafter. You 
have the testimony of the saints from the days of the 
Apostles, nay farther, from the days of the patriarchs 
to the present time, that it is good to serve the Lord, 
that his '' commandments are not grievous ^^^ and that 
in keeping them there is great reward. It is no ob- 
jection to the validity of this testimony, that j/ow have 
never felt this joy — that you have never been able to 
conceive what happiness there is in the humbling re- 
ligion of Jesus. Have you ever repented, and believ- 
ed in Jesus, trusting wholly in him for salvation ? If 
not, then you are strangers to the peace of God which 
passes all understanding. You are ignorant of the 
nature and substance of religion. You are ignorant of 
the Saviour's preciousness and love. And surely you 
will not presume to judge unfavorably of that con- 



The folly end criminality of Indecision. 63 

ceming which you are totally ignorant. You will not 
pretend that your testimony can be admitted against 
that of persons whose experience has qualified them to 
be competent witnesses. A thing may be true, though 
^ow should know nothing of its truth. What know 
you, who are '' dead in trespasses and sins^^"* about 
thejoysof the spiritual life? What know you, who 
are enemies to God, and love not our Lord Jesus 
Christ, about commimion with the Father of Hghts, 
and with his Son the Saviour ? A man's testimony 
is to be received in regard to things he knows, provid- 
ed he is a man of veracity ; but surely you would 
place but litde dependance on what a man should say 
in reference to a subject of which he is perfectly 
ignorant. 

I repeat it, then,, that the testimony of those who 
have followed the Lord is not weakened by a contra- 
ry testimony from those who love not the Lord and 
have never served him. If you can bring forward those 
%vlio have faithfully obeyed Jehovah, and enjoyed inti- 
mate communion with him, to testify against the excel- 
lence of religion, and the joys of faith and hope and 
obedience, their testimony might have some weight. 
But in such an effort you would not succeed. For 
all who have been regenerated by the word and Spirit 
of God, though they have lived previously in the en- 
joyment of what the world calls pleasure, yet agree in 
their testimony and favor of serving the Lord and hv- 
ing to his glory. 

Farther than this, you have witnessed in the chil- 
dren of God, what amounts to convincing evidence 
that you can be supported and made happy hy the 
Lord only. You have observed in others what sup- 
port, what consolation, what hope and joy the religion 
of the Saviour can afford in affliction and in death. 
While you have seen the worldling prostrated by afflic- 
tion, and filled with gloomy apprehensions, and over- 
whelmed with a dread of death and eternity, you have 



54 The folly and criminality of Indecision. 

viewed the child of God '^ patient in tribulation ^^^ 
borne up above the fears and terrors of death, and 
rejoicing in the Lord in whom he has believed, know- 
ing that the Lord is able and faithful to keep what he 
has committed to him till the day of the redemption 
of his body. While the one dreads nothing more than 
to appear before a holy God, the other says, ^'Come^ 
Lord Jesus J come quickly, "^^ While the one chngs 
tenaciously to the earth, and lets go only by having 
his hold broken, the other ''fastens his hand on 
the skies, and bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." 
While the one bids adieu to all comfort and happiness, 
the other leaves behind him all suffering and sorrow, 
and begins the reception of his '' good things.'^^ And 
have you never with Balaam said, '' Let me die the 
death of the righteous^ and let my last end be like hisV^ 
I appeal to yourselves whether, in your soberest re- 
flections, you do not feel that you are wronging your 
own souls — that you are acting contrary to your duty 
and interest while you continue to neglect the great 
salvation ? Do you not design, at some future period, 
to seek and follow the Lord ? Have you any idea of 
going out of the world unprepared for heaven ? Do 
any of you lay your account to dwell forever and ever 
in torments unutterable among the enemies of the Lord 
God ? I think not. And is there not something with- 
in you which tells you that now you are unfit to go 
before God and have your case adjudged ? Are you 
not all convinced that there is no ground for hesitating 
whether you should serve the Lord, or the world ? 
Whether you should lay up a treasure in heaven or on 
earth ? Whether you should seek to dwell forever in 
the kingdom of heaven, or seek riches and honors and 
pleasures here a few fleeting years, and then he down 
in everlasting sorrow ? 

If, then, there be no just ground for halting between 
the service of Christ and the service of sin and satan, 
it is criminal to be wavering between them. If the 



The folly and cnminality of Indecision, 55 

claim of the Lord Is so clear to your service — if he 
has left you no reason to doubt that your interest and 
duty require a prompt and cheerful obedience to his 
commands — if he has given you such evidence as to 
settle the point beyond all possibility of dispute, then 
are you guilty of aggravated sin if you continue to neg- 
lect him. The Lord your God, as with a voice from 
heaven, says to you, " love me with all thine heart,'' 
and conscience instantly echos to the demand and 
pronounces it reasonable. But you persevere in 
confining your affections to the world and its treasures. 
The Lord says to you, '' forsake your evil course and 
break off from your sins," and conscience repeats and 
urges the same requisition. But you still continue 
'' treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. "^^ The 
Lord says, ^^ follow me," and conscience presses upon 
you the same duty. But you follow the world, and 
go farther and farther off from God. The Lord and 
your conscience both warn you to ^'' flee from the lorath 
to comej^'^ but still you Hnger, as if in defiance of that 
wrath which is '^ revealed from heaven against all un- 
righteousness and ungodliness of men, "^^ 

As it is criminal^ so it is dangerous to waver between 
Christ and the world. Notwhhstanding your convic- 
tions of duty, by continuing to neglect Christ, you 
declare your preference for this world. You practi- 
cally say, ^'I would rather have a portion on earth 
than in heaven — I would rather forfeit my eternal Ufe 
than noio strive to become a Christian — I would rather 
be esteemed among men, than have my name record- 
ed on high." You may not say expressly that such is 
your choice, but your conduct indicates that such is 
the feeling of your hearts. And I fear that many of 
you, if you would be candid with yourselves, would 
find that you have no desire to be interested in the Sa- 
viour. If such be the case, very likely God will leave 
many of you to your own choice, to enjoy your good 
things here, and in eternity live on the remembrance 



56 The folly and criminaiity of Indecision. 

of them and of your iniquities ! Very likely the Holy 
Spirit will pass you by, being grieved with you on ac- 
count of the hardness of your hearts. And after filling 
up the measure of your iniquity, God will "-show his 
wrath^ and make his power knoion^^ in punishing such 
'' vessels of ivrath^ fitted for destruction,'^^ 

I repeat it, my friends ; you are in a state of awful 
danger so long as you continue to walk contrary to the 
directions of the word of God. How long, then, 
halt ye between two opinions — whether to serve 
Christ or the world ? 



SERMOJV VI. 



JS^aaman^ the Syrian, 

2 Kings v: 13. And his servants came near, nnd spake 
unto him, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great 
thing, wouldst thou not have done it ? How much rather, then, 
v^^hen he saith to thee, Wash and be clean. 

There were many lepers in Israel in the time of 
Elisha the prophet ; and none of ihem was cleansed 
saving Naaman the Syrian. Of this Naaraan we have 
an account in the chapter before us. He is said to 
have been a great man with his master, and honorable, 
because by him the Lord had given deUverance to 
Syrk. He was also a mighty man of valour. Hence 
the king of Syria made him his favorite — his prime 
minister of state. But he was a leper. Though thus 
honorable, and renowned, and exalted, he was afflicted 
with a loathsome disease which made him a burden to 
himself. Having learned from a young Jewish female, 
a resident in his family, that there was in Samaria a 
prophet who could cure him, the king immediately 
despatched him with large presents and a letter to the 
king of Israel, in order to secure the desired favor. 
How greatly did the king of Syria err in supposing 
that Ehsha must necessarily be in high repute and fa- 
vor with Jehoram. The prophets and other servants 
of God were generally rejected by those who should 
have been the first to welcome and encouragQ them. 



58 J^aaman^ the Syrian, 

The king of Israel having read the letter, was not a 
little agitated. '' He rent his clothes^ and said^ Am 
I God to kill and make alive ^ that this man doth send 
unto me to recover a man of his leprosy ? Wherefore 
consider^ I pray you^ and see how he seeketh a quar- 
rel against me,^^ The leper no doubt began to think 
that he might as well have staid at home, as to visit 
such a king on such an errand. 

But the prophet Elisha soon heard what was going 
on at court, and '' sent to the king^ sayings Wherefore 
hast thou rent thy clothes 9 Let him [Naaman] come 
now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet 
hi IsraeU^ The leper accepted the invitation, and 
proceeded with a splendid retinue to the house of 
Elishav By such pomp and display he doubtless 
thought he was doing great honor to the prophet, and 
should have the compliment duly returned. But 
Elisha merely sent out a messenger to say to him, 
'' Go J and loash in Jordan seven times^ and thy flesh 
shall come again to thee^ and thou shalt he clean.''^ At 
this the wrath of Naaman was kindled, and he seems 
to have reasoned within himself — '' I have come hith- 
er from Syria with a great retinue, in great pomp, 
bringing a rich present with me to do honor to the 
prophet of Israel ; and here I stand at the door of his 
house like a beggar, and he will not so much as come 
out to see me. And as if I was the most insignificant 
wretch on earth, he sends a servant out, ordering me 
to go and wash in Jordan. This is insulting enough. 
I will not endure it." Thus mortified and indignant, 
he turned about his horses and chariots, '^ and ivent 
away in a rage^'^^ probably swearing by all his gods 
that he would have nothing more to do with the 
prophets of Israel. Proud mortal ! Supposing you 
have nothing more to do with them, who w^ill be the 
loser ? 

But why did Naaman refuse.Jo follow such a direc- 
tion ? He probably thought that such a way for curing 



^"^aaman^ the Syrian. 59 

so great a man was altogether too cheap, too plain, too 
humiliating. To wash in Jordan, when the rivers of 
Damascus were so much better than all the waters of 
Israel ! His pride could not brook it. In the heat of 
his passion, he sets out to return to his own home. 
But '' his servants came near^ and said^ My father^ if 
the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, loouldst 
thou not have done it ? How much rather^ then^ xohen 
he saith to thee^ Wash^ and he clean,'''' The proud 
leper now begins to reflect, and his own conscience 
tells him that he would have made almost any sacrifice, 
undertaken almost any pilgrimage, submitted to almost 
any course of medical treatment, if recovery might be 
the result. Why, then, object to so simple a pre- 
scription ? If it do no good, the expense will be noth- 
ing. He is induced to make the experiment, and is 
perfectly healed. 

This story of Naaman exhibits to us a great deal of 
human nature — its pride, and its objections to God's 
methods of doing us good. It shows us also that the 
only way to obtain salvation from the Lord, is to com- 
ply wdth his gracious directions. 

1. Sinners make objections to the gospel 7nethod of 
salvation. That the soul, as well as the body, has its 
maladies, you cannot be ignorant. The word of God, 
and the convictions of your own consciences, assure 
you that mankind are infected with a disease more 
loathsome and more ruinous than Naaman's leprosy, 
and that the healing power exists only in a Physician 
of omnipotent skill. You are aware that this malady 
has seized upon yourselves, and that unless you are 
cured by the grace of God, you can never associate 
with the spotless inhabitants, or enjoy the pure bhss 
of the kingdom of heaven. And there are times, 
doubtless, when you feel some anxiety for a cure. 
When you reflect on the shortness of time, the emp- 
tiness of the world's enjoyments, the worth of the 
soul, and its needof sanctification, you feel a momen- 



60 jSTaaman^ the Syrian. 

taiy wish to be prepared for death and judgment <- 
You have no disposition to go down to hell forever. 
Your hope is, that in some way or other, you shall be 
saved. The same is true of all men. However bad 
their lives, they all wish to be saved, and hope to be 
saved, and intend to be saved. 

But they are not all willing lo be saved in God's 
way. They are not willing to follow his directions. 
Naaman was anxious to be cured ; even when going 
away in a rage from the prophet's door, indignant that 
the waters of Israel should be prescribed for his 
cleansing. I doubt not that he would have declared 
to any one who might have asked him, that he desired 
recovery. And in this desire he w^ould unquestiona- 
bly have been sincere. I suppose you may truly de- 
sire to be pardoned, and made forever happy, while in 
heart you are as much opposed to the way of salvation 
as Naaman was to the method of cure prescribed by 
Elisha. You may sincerely desire heaven, and yet 
bitterly hate the only way that leads to heaven. Naa- 
man wished to be healed in a way that would reflect 
honor on himself ; and so it is with you. Though he 
Avas grievously diseased, and unfit for society, yet he 
must go in state to the prophet, make a great parade 
bear a hberal present, show him great deference, and 
receive some token of deference in return. Though 
he regarded cure as of great importance, yet he must 
make a recompense for it, so as not to be indebted for 
any thing. And I suppose you would all be willing to 
be saved on such terms. Could yo« trade with Christ, 
as ypu do w^ith one another, making valuable compen- 
sation for all that you receive, you would like very 
w^ell to receive salvation from him. Could you lay 
him under some species of obligation to save you by 
your good works, your prayers, your charities, you 
would like to be able to approach him, and as credi- 
tors demand of him eternal life. You would like to 
have the world know that you were under no obliga- 



JSI^aaman^ the Syrian. 61 

lions to Christ for salvation — that you merited it, and 
now it is yours. You would be pleased to have the 
Lord proclaim to his universe in the last day, that he 
received you into his kingdom for some valuable con- 
sideration which you had previously rendered him. 

If the Lord should bid you do some great thing, you 
would gladly make the attempt. But to admit that 
you are lost sinners — that you have been altogether in 
the wrong — that your hearts are not right in the sight 
of God — that your thoughts, motives, deeds, have 
all been sinful — to feel and confess your utter unwor- 
thiness of all favor, and depend on Christ alone for 
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 
seems to you as washing in Jordan did to Naaman. 
It takes all the honor of salvation from you, and puts it 
on the head of Christ crucified. It removes from you 
all occasion of boasting, and makes you dependant on 
the mercy of God for salvation, equally with the low- 
est and vilest of our race. Your pride cannot brook 
this. Your lofty spirits cannot stoop so low, and you 
are ready to turn away as did Naaman, in a rage. You 
are ready to argue within yourselves — are not good 
w^orks, such as charity to the poor, hospitality to 
strangers, honesty, kindness, prudence and integrity 
of more value than repentance and faith ? May we not 
perform these and be safe ? Are not the rivers of Da- 
mascus better than all the waters of Israel. May we 
not wash in them and be clean ? 

Sinners wish to devise a scheme of salvation for- 
themselves. So Naaman, big with the expectation of 
a cure, had fancied to himself hoio this cure would be 
effected. '' He will surely come out to we." Cer- 
tainly he can do nothing less than this to me, a peer of 
Syria — to me, who have often been victorious over 
Israel — to me, who have now come to him in all this 
state and parade. And when he is come out, he will 
'' standj^^ as servants before their masters, or as min- 
isters before their kings, '^ and call on the name of 
6 



/" 



62 J^aaman^ the Syrian. 

V 

the Lord his God^^^ specifically for me, '' and strike 
his hand over the place^ and recover the leper, ^^ Won- 
derful plan ! Make the prophet of the Lord, and the 
Lord himself do honor to him, a nobleman of Syria, 
while he may sit quietly in his chariot, and do noth- 
ing ! And because it is not according to his mind, he 
falls into a passion. He is mad with rage because he 
cannot compel the Lord to cure him in such a way as 
would gratify his own pride and ambition. 

We have seen something very much resembling 
this in sinners who havff become partially convinced 
of sin, and begin to dread its consequences. Unwil- 
ling to submit to the Lord, they are for prescribing the 
mode in which the Spirit must work. They must 
have such and such feelings, in such and such an order 
of succession. And if it is not according to their 
minds, it is all wrong. If it be not according to their 
scheme, they are for finding fault with God, that he is 
not willing to save them. They say they are anxious 
to be saved, and have been asking God to have mercy 
on them, but that it does no good. They find no 
hght, no hope, no peace, no relief. Now in all this 
there is as much pride as there was in the heart of 
Naaman. 

There are a great many refuges to which the awak- 
ened sinner flies before he is willing to be saved ac- 
cording to the mind of God — the mind of Him w^ho 
has determined to stain all the pride of human glory. 
He will take from every creature all occasion of boast- 
ing and will put upon his Son the honor of the salva- 
tion of all who are raised from earth to heaven. He 
will make no compromise w^th the sinner. He will 
accept of nothing which the sinner may attempt to do 
to merit the divine favor. He will save in his own 
vvay, and he saves none until they become willing to 
submit to him. He did not direct his prophet to in- 
quire of the leper how he would like to be cured. 
Nor does he ask the sinner how he should hke to be 



JS'^aaman^ the Syrian. 63 

saved. His plan is fixed and cannot be altered. 
*^ Repent ye and believe the g-ospeZ." '' Let the wick- 
ed forsake his way^ and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts^ and let him return unto the Lord^ who icill 
have mercy J and to our God^ who loill abundantly 
pardon,"^^ There is but one way for all. Naaman 
must know that before the great God all men stand 
upon the same level, as it regards the method of mer- 
cy. No more notice is taken of him than if he had 
come all the way on foot to the prophet's door, beg- 
ging from house to house for food and lodgings. 

2. These objections betray great foolishness. Naa- 
man, as we have already seen, raised a number of ob- 
jections against the requirements of the prophet. He 
considered himself as insulted, and his country shght- 
ed, that he should be commanded to w^ash in a river, 
and in a river of Israel too. This threw him into a fit 
of rage, and he was ready to denounce the prophet, 
and the prophet's God, and all that belonged to the 
Jewish nation. B^ut what did all his objections and 
all his rage avail him ? Suppose he had returned to 
Syria as he had determined to do — suppose he had 
not gone to the Jordan, but to the rivers of his own 
country, what w^ould it have profited him ? What in- 
jury could he have done to Elisha ? What to any 
one but himself ? Could he, by his rage, induce the 
prophet to alter his directions ? No, he could change 
nothing. After all, he must dip seven times in Jor- 
dan, or be a leper still. 

You have your objections to the w^ay of salvation 
which God has devised. And probably you are lay- 
ing your accounts to get to heaven without that repen- 
tance, that faith, that humility, that patience, that self- 
denial, that heavenly-mindedness which are required 
by the Lord Jesus ? You intend to be saved, not 
•^vholly by grace, but in some way that shall reflect 
honor upon yourselves. Now, my hearers, all this is 
folly, consummate folly, to be continually quarrelling 



64 JSTaaman^ the Syrian, 

with the method of mercy, and finding fault with the 
humbling doctrines of the gospel and duties of the gos- 
pel, as if you thought you should thereby induce God 
to alter his plan, and fix it in such a shape as would be 
congenial with your feelings. And has any alteration 
ever been made ? Do you not hear it repeatedly 
sotinded in your ear, '' Ye must be born again ?" 
Do you find any more self-honoring way to be saved 
now than years ago ? Perhaps you may be ready to 
complain' that you hear so much of the humbling du- 
ties of repentance, self-denial and prayer. Your hearts 
may inwardly rise up against them, and induce you to 
resolve upon delay for the present, rather than give up 
your buoyant youth, or vigorous manhood to the ser- 
vice of a Master who imposes such a yoke upon his 
disciples. Do any of you feel thus? I entreat you 
to bring the subject home to your own bosoms. God 
has commanded you to repent and beheve in his Son. 
Will you then go home and take your Bibles, and blot 
out those passages where these dyties are enjoined ? 
Or will any of you determine never to read again that 
you must be born again — must beheve or be damned? 
Dare any of you do this, and risk the consequences ? 
I think not. Then, surely you will admit that God 
requires of you these duties. And if so, what will it 
avail you to object to the performance of them ? It 
was not more true that Naaman must dip himself seven 
times in Jordan, or be a leper still, than it is that you 
must repent and believe the gospel, or be forever ex- 
cluded from the kingdom of heaven. It was not more 
certain that, had Naaman returned home without im- 
mersing himself in Jordan, he would have died a leper, 
than it is, that you will die in your sins, if you repent 
not. It was no greater mark of infatuation in Naaman 
to be in a rage, and to determine to have nothing more 
to do with the prophet of the Lord, than exists in 
your case when you turn away displeased with the 
gospel message, and neglect to wash in that foyntaiu 



J^'^aaman^ the Syrian. 65 

which is opened in Christ for the cleansing of your 
souls. Was it pride in him to disdain to follow the 
direction of the prophet ? Equally so is it pride in 
you to refuse submission to Christ. All objections, 
therefore, to the plan of salvation, or to the doctrines 
which the gospel reveals, or the duties which the gos- 
pel requires, are not only unavailing, but they are 
foolish and wicked, for they betray great pride of 
heart, and evince the spirit of opposition to God. 

3. Compliance with the divine directions is certain 
to secure salvation, Naaman, the leper, was ultimate- 
ly induced to follow the directions of the prophet, and 
the result was that his flesh came again like the flesh of 
a little child, and he was clean. No sooner had he 
become willing to give up his ovra notions about a 
cure, than he was ready to embrace Elisha's — and no 
sooner had he complied with the prophet's instruc- 
tions, than he was healed. 

So is it with the convicted sinner. As soon as he 
becomes willing to submit to the Lord, to be saved in 
his own way, then, and not till then, the Lord shows 
him his mercy, and receives him into favor. The 
only sure way of obtaining eternal life is, to follow the 
directions of the Saviour. '' This is the work of God^ 
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, "^^ Thousands, 
yea, millions have found it so. The moment they 
have surrendered themselves at the feet of sovereign 
mercy, willing to be saved in the way of God's ap- 
pointment, they have found all they needed, and all 
they desired. They have found their burdens of sin 
removed, their darkness dispelled by the light of truth, 
and their souls filled w^ith the most tender, Hvely and 
joyful emotions. They have found faith to cast them- 
selves on the merciful arm of the Saviour, and have 
been enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full 
of glory. None have ever trusted him and been dis- 
appointed. None that have approached him with 
humble and contrite hearts, have ever been rejected 
6* 



66 J^aaman^ the Syrian. 

from his presence. Was it certain cure to Naamaii 
to wash in Jordan ? So is it to the sinner to wash in 
the blood of Jesus. Was it immediate recovery to 
the leper to wash as he was directed ? So is it to the 
sinner who embraces the Saviour. To repent and 
believe the gospel is the sure, and the only sure way 
of obtaining pardon, and peace and purity, and eternal 
hfe. 



SERMOj^ VII. 



Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

John hi: 7, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be 
born again. 

The doctrine taught by our Saviour, in the first 
part of this chapter, seems to have been a new doc- 
trine to Nicodemus. Hence he inquired with aston- 
ishment, " HoiD can a man be born when he is old ?" 
And, " Hoic can these things be ?" 

Had Christ, in his language to this ruler of the Jews, 
intended to say that nothing more was necessary in 
order to a man's partaking of the privileges of the 
kingdom of heaven, than merely an external reforma- 
tion — a breaking off from gross sins and vicious habits, 
he would, we should suppose, have relieved the man 
from his deep perplexity, by some intelligible expla- 
nations. But instead of this, he tells him this change 
is effected by the Spirit of God, and is one of those 
'' heavenly things"^^ which can be known only by faith. 
Your attention is now sohcited to three considerations. 

I. The nature of the new birth here spoken of as 
indispensably necessary. By being ^' bo7ii again^^^ I 
understand a change of the heart, considered as the 
seat of the passions and of volition — a change pro- 
duced by the Spirit of God, operating, not to destroy 
the free agency of man, but to give him holy affections, 
and a disposition to do the divine will. It is such a 
change as destroys, in those who are the subjects of 



68 Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

it, a relish for sinful pleasures — gives them a taste for 
holy things, for the word of truth, the communion of 
the saints, and intercourse with heaven, and makes~ 
them ardently desire to be thoroughly cleansed from 
all sin, and completely conformed to the image of the 
heavenly. It is a change which leads to new estimates 
of things— ^which exhibits in the attitude of vast, of 
principal importance things which before were cast 
entirely into the shade, and spreads a coloring of in- 
significance over such as generally stand forth in high 
and bold relief; and, consequently, gives a new direc- 
tion to the affections, the energies, and the pursuits of 
man, so that he feels himself a new creature — old 
things having passed away, and behold, all things be- 
come new. It is a change which produces in such as 
experience it, a new and peculiar affection for those 
who walk in the paths of wisdom, attired in the gar- 
ments of meekness and humility ; and gives them to- 
wards all men a tender and compassionate regard. It 
is a change so manifest as to be visible to all. Some 
gather around the subject of it to rejoice with him, 
while others are displeased and shun him. Some re- 
gard him as a brother gained — others as a friend lost. 

A change so radical, taking hold of the active prin- 
ciples of our nature, giving a new bias to the tenderest 
and strongest affections of the heart, breaking up long- 
cherished and deeply rooted habits, producing a dis- 
relish for pleasures which have furnished the highest 
gratification, and moulding the whole man anew '' after 
the image of him who created him^^ — such a change 
cannot but be attended with many painful experiences. 
A brokenness of spirit, a distressing consciousness of 
ill-desert, a conviction of obnoxiousness to the dis- 
pleasure of God, a most earnest entreaty for mercy, 
and a yielding up of the heart to Jesus with submis- 
siveness to divine sovereignty, are found to accompany 
this change. Finally, it is a change, followed by 
pleasing views of Christ and the plan of salvation, a 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 69 

soul-thrilling joy, and entire confidence in God through 
the mediation of his Son. 

Such I consider as substantially the change to which 
our Lord refers, when he says, '' Ye must be born 
again, '^^ 

II. Is this the change which the gospel requires ? 
Some may perhaps wish me to answer a previous ques- 
tion. Is there really any such change of heart ? Does 
the Holy Spirit ever produce a change like this ? 
Have any ever experienced it ? The present age is 
not wanting in those who deny not only the y^eality^ but 
also the necessity of the change which I have de- 
scribed. In replying to such inquiries, I shall not la- 
bor to'prove that the Spirit of God can effect such a 
change, or to show that the doctrine is rational in the 
sense that it can be perfectly comprehended ; but I 
shall consider merely matters of fact. There is such 
a change as has been described, A large'number of the 
present generation, and very many in every age since 
the revelation of the gospel, including, it is true, some 
of the most ignorant, but also many of the most learn- 
ed — some of the poorest, but also some of the most 
wealthy — some of the weakest minds, but also some 
of the most powerful — some of the bluntest intellects, 
but also some of the most acute and logical geniuses — 
in fine, many of all ranks and conditions of life, have 
professed to experience this change, and their profes- 
sion has been sustained by such external reformation 
as to prove that the change was internal and radical. 
And so far as quahfications are concerned, these per- 
sons are competent witnesses. They testify not to 
some matter of opinion or speculation — not to what 
others may have experienced, but to what they the7n^ 
selves have individually experienced— to what is with- 
in them-— to matters about which they are conscious, 
and have not the shadow of a doubt. They speak that 
which they know, and testify that which they have 
seen and felt. Now can their testimony be justly set 



70 Regeneration a real and necessary work, 

aside by witnesses whose only testimony consists in 
a total ignorance of this subject as a matter of personal 
experience ? Their character in every other point will 
bear the strictest investigation. They are honest — 
conscientiously regardful of their word — men of un- 
questioned veracity, in whom entire confidence has 
been reposed in all other matters — men who would 
not testify to an untruth to avoid imprisonment, tor- 
lure, or martyrdom — the best of men in every place 
and every age. 

These witnesses could have no rational inducement 
to testify falsely. Have they ever recommended them- 
selves to public favor by declaring that they had passed 
from death unto life ? Have they been the more loved 
or honored by the world for such testimony ? Have 
they aimed at lucrative stations, or posts of honor and 
influence ? Nay rather ; they have subjected them- 
selves to reproach, to contempt, to loss of property 
and liberty, and sometimes loss of life. And could 
they expect that God would be pleased w^ith their de- 
claring publicly that they had experienced what they 
knew or might know they had not ? Would they take 
such a raiethod to obtain the divine favor ? Their char- 
acter for honesty in other matters absolutely forbids 
such a conclusion. 

" But might they not be deceived ?" Those w^hose 
views differ from what we have advanced, take this 
ground, that their passions were strongly excited, and 
their imaginations powerfully WTOught upon, and in 
this state they continued until relieved by some fancied 
views, they became suddenly joyous and transported, 
and that, perhaps for consistency's sake, they after-* 
wards endeavor to appear a little more serious and 
circumspect. 

But it seems altogether to mihtate against such an 
explanation, that on all other subjects which are cal- 
culated to excite the passions, and produce dread or 
consternation, these individuals are generally less ex- 



Regeneration a real and necessary icork, 71 

cited than others, and exhibit more forethought, cool- 
ness, self-possession and tranquility. If the work of 
conversion be nothing more than an excitement of the 
passions, such as we have just stated, how are we to 
account for the fact, that many who have so viewed the 
subject, and treated it with the utmost levity and in* 
difference, should become the subjects of this excite- 
ment, and then, and ever after, in spite of their former 
views and feelings, their philosophy and stoicism, be- 
lieved it to be the effect of the Spirit of God ? If in 
all the affairs of this hfe, they exhibit good sense, and 
prudence, and judgment, and rationahty, as well as 
others, then surely it is wholly gratuitous, that in the 
subject of religion they should be regarded as bigots, 
enthusiats, and visionary men, whose testimony is of 
no authority. 

But it may be urged, that there have been many 
w^ho pretended to have seen most strange sights, and 
heard strange things, and received authority from the 
Lord to perform uncommon deeds, and nobody placed 
any confidence in their testimony. If these w^ere de- 
ceived, as very few will deny, why may not those be 
who pretend to have experienced the change in ques- 
tion ? Have, then, these impostors or pfetenders 
been sober-minded people in all other respects ? Have 
they enjoyed the confidence and esteem of those who 
had the best means of knowing them ? Do they all 
testify that they have experienced the same thing ? 
Do they all tell the same story ? Or Hoes each one 
have a different revelation, and pretend to have expe- 
rienced something pecuHar, different from all others ? 
♦Further, have they not manifestly had some induce- 
ment and design to deceive, whenever they have set 
themselves up to be some great ones ? Have not their 
pretensions, their followers, and they themselves very 
soon come to nought and been forgotten ? 

But the witnesses, whose competency we are de- 
fending, were not only acquainted with the matter tes- 



72 Regeneration a real and necessary work, 

tified to, and honest, and undesigning, and undeceived, 
but many of them once utterly disbelieved the reality 
and necessity of the change under consideration, and 
were violent opposers of the doctrine, till they be^ 
came subjects of the change themselves, being con- 
vinced because they could no longer remain uncon- 
vinced. 

Now, we would ask any who deny the reahty of this 
change, to account for one fact — a fact which their 
denial requires them to account for — that so many ten 
thousands in every age, and in all parts of the world 
where the gospel is preached, should be so perfectly 
united in their testimony and opinions in regard to 
what they have experienced — for in reference to this 
they are united, however much they may differ in re- 
gard to other things. How, on supposition that there 
is no such change as we have explained, can they ac- 
count for the fact that millions should agree in testify- 
ing to the same matter — a matter of which they are 
conscious — of which they have no doubt and can have 
none— a matter which influences all their affections 
and conduct ? Does it not require greater credulity 
to believe that all these are deceived, and under the 
power of a single and uniform delusion, than to be- 
lieve that. they have really experienced the change 
which they profess to have experienced ? 

Those, therefore, who deny or doubt the doctrine 
of a change of heart by the Spirit of God, do thereby 
involve themselves in difficulty far greater than the one 
from which they aim to extricate themselves. 

What, then, is the objection to this renewing of the 
Holy, Ghost ? What difficulty attends the belief o§ 
it ? The same that Nicodemus felt. He was not 
willing to receive the doctrine by faith. He must 
understand it. " How can a man be born when he is 
old ?" '' Hoio can these things be ?" But the an- 
swer of Christ to the rational ruler places this subject 
on its right ground. '^ The ivind bloweth where it listeth, 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 73 

and thou hearest the sound thereof^ but canst not tell 
whence it co^neth^ and whither it goeth ; so is every 
one that is bom of the Spirit, '^^ The operations of 
the Divine Spirit are not subjected to the laws which 
regulate the action of the human mind, and consequent- 
ly are not to be illustrated or made intelligible by any 
analogy between the one and the other. The Spirit 
moves when and where it listeth. The apostle Paul 
says, '' The natural man receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God^for they are foolishness unto him^ 
neither can he know them^ for they are spiritually dis- 
cerned,'^'' Regeneration is a work of the Spirit, and 
is best understood by those who have experienced it ; 
and the ignorance of those who have not been the 
subjects of it, cannot destroy the faith of those who 
have. Besides, we repeat it as a principle of reason- 
ing fully established, that the positive testimony of 
experienced Christians cannot be- set aside by the un- 
behef of those who are confessedly deficient in this 
experience. 

This being established, it remains for us to show that 
the change under consideration is that which the gos- 
pel requires as indispensable to salvation. 

And in proof of this, I observe, 

1 . That it harmonizes with the various accounts 
and representations given in the Bible, of the change 
required. In the scriptures we have such expressions 
as the following : '' If any man be in Christy he is a 
NEW CREATURE." " /n Christ Jcsus neither cir CUM- 
cision availeth any things nor uncircumcision,, but a 
NEW creature" — or a new creation. " Being 
BORN, not of bloody nor of the will of the fleshy nor of 
the will ofmaUj but of God." '' The washing of 

REGENERATION, and RENEWING OF THE HoLY 

Ghost." '' Blessed be the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ,, who^ according to his abundant 
mercy^ hath begotten us again, unto a lively hope^ 

7 



74 Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.'^^ 
'' Ye must be born again." 

If such language be interpreted to mean an external 
reformation merely — a reformation which extends not 
to the heart, modifying the affections and the will, 
then it is altogether too strong and expressive ; and 
by expressing too much, it fails to express any thing. 
When a profane man ceases from his profaneness, a 
liar from falsehood, an intemperate man from his cups, 
there is a reformation effected. But to say they are 
'' born of Gody^ '' begotten again^^ by the Father, 
'' neio creatures in Christ^^^ because of these outward 
changes, is language which none would use respecting 
them. Far less w^ould the Saviour, or any of his apos- 
tles apply such expressions to such changes. Besides, 
the language of scripture has more reference to the 
heart, to the temper, to the spirit of the mind, than to 
wiiat is merely external. But the expressions w^e have 
quoted from the Bible, and many others of like char- 
acter, are peculiarly appropriate and significant when 
applied to the change of heart which we usually de- 
nominate regeneration. 

Further, the rehgious experience of numbers record- 
ed in the Bible, especially their conversion to the 
faith of the gospel by the renewing power of the Holy 
Spirit^ — that change in their views and feelings and 
sentiments w^hich prepared them to testify the gospel 
of the grace of God to others, and be his willing and 
obedient servants, agrees in every essential point with 
that of multitudes now who profess to have passed 
from death unto life by the agency of the same Divine 
Spirit. 

2. The change which many now experience, is 
followed by that manner of life which the gospel des- 
cribes as the sure effect of the change there required. 
Who are those that most imitate the Redeemer in go- 
ing about to do good ? Who exhibit the most of that 
meekness and humility which characterized the Son of 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 75 

God ? Who are the most ready to forgive injuries, and 
bear wrongs and insuhs ? Who are the most anxious 
to hush the elements of strife and contention when 
put into motion by some unhallowed breath ? Where 
look ye for those who love their enemies, and pray 
for such as despitefully use and persecute them ? 
Where are to be found those who, like the compas- 
sionate Saviour, weep for the miseries tliat must come 
upon such as will not consider the things that belong 
to their peace ? Who are those that most cheerfully 
give to him that lacketh — that distribute their bread 
to the hungry, and their drink to the thirsty, and that 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction ? 
Have they not, in all ages, been found among those 
who professed to have been created in Christ Jesus 
unto good w^orks ? And if these have borne the fruits 
of that moral renovation which the gospel requires, and 
the Spirit produces — if their characters have been 
formed by a happy combination of those virtues and 
graces an^ attractive features which are represented in 
the Scriptures as the necessary results of the new 
birth, are we not authorized to believe that they have 
truly experienced that renovation — that they have in- 
deed been '^ born again ?" 

3. There is still another proof of the identity of the 
change which believers now experience, and that des- 
cribed in the Scriptures. It is this : The change 
experienced prepares the subjects of it to enter more 
fully than they could before into the spirit of the gos- 
pel, and to appreciate the preciousness of the Saviour 
and the excellence of his grace. The sacred writers 
have employed very strong and significant language in 
reference to what seemed, more immediately, to con- 
stitute the themes of their discourses. They hesitate 
not to pronounce the Saviour ^' the chief among ten 
thousands,^ and altogether lovely, ^^ '' Unto yoii^ there- 
fore,, ichich believe,, he is precious, '^'^ Such language 
could never have been used by persons, in whose eyes 



76 Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

the Saviour has no beauty or comeliness that they 
should desire him. Now such as have experienced 
the change for which I plead, are thereby prepared to 
respond to the sacred writers : '^ Yes, he is precious ; 
there is none in heaven, and none on earth whom we 
desire in comparison with him. He is our hope, our 
life, our all in all." Paul exclaims, '' God forbid that 
I should glory J save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christy by whom the world is crucified unto me and I 
unto the world,'^^ Let it be observed that most men 
regard the' cross as an object of scandal and reproach. 
But how different were the views and feelings of the 
apostle. And those whom we consider as renewed 
by the Spirit of God adopt the apostle'^ language. To 
them the cross of Jesus is the centre of attraction, the 
source of their purest joys. And while the natural, 
or unrenewed man passes over interesting portions of 
the Bible without discovering any thing remarkable or 
worthy of his attention* the individual who is renewed 
in the spirit of his mind, discovers precious^gems, in- 
valuable treasures at every step, and is prepared to 
perceive and enjoy, if not the beauties of the language, 
the excellence and glory of the subjects about which 
the inspired writers discourse. Now since those 
whom we regard as the subjects of a change of heart, 
are prepared to enter into the spirit of the sacred wri- 
ters, and to find much of their truest happiness in 
reading and meditating on the word of God, we hence 
infer that they must have been born again, — '' born^ 
not of bloody nor of the will of the fleshy nor of the will 
of man ^ but of God^^ — and that the change they have 
experienced must be the same as that of which the 
sacred writers so often speak. 

III. This change is indispensable to 'salvation. If 
this necessity is plainly taught in the word of God — 
if it is unequivocally and positively asserted by those 
who were moved by the Holy Ghost to make such a 
declaration — if they uniformly and invariably declare 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 7? 

that na man can be saved without this change, then we 
must consider this point as settled, so that there can be 
no room for doubt or debate. What, then, is the 
testimony of the Scriptures on this subject ? 

The declarations of Christ in his conversation with 
Nicodemus are the most direct and incontrovertible. 
^' Verily^ verily I say unto thee^ except a man be born 
again^ he cannot see the kingdom of God.^^ '^ That 
which is born of the flesh is fleshy and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit. '^^ ^^ Marvel not that I said 
unto thee^ Ye must be born again,"*"* The testimony 
of such a witness cannot be set aside by any authority. 
But this is not all the evidence to be adduced. Chris- 
tians are uniformly by the sacred writers spoken of 
as those who have been '' born again,,'*'* ''born of God,,'^'* 
^' born of the Spirit,"*"* John bears testimony that the 
power or privilege of becoming the sons of God is 
given to such and such only as are '' born of God,"*"* 
Paul designates the Colossian Christians as those who 
have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowl- 
edge, after the image of him who created them — that 
is, the image of Him w^ho was the author of the regen- 
eration which tliey had experienced. In his letter to 
Titus, he styles Christians those who are '' saved by 
the loashing of regeneration and the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost,"*"* Peter, writing to the '' elect according 
to the foreknoioledge of God"*"* — that is, true Christians, 
testifies that God had '•' begotten them again unto a 
lively hope"*"* — that they had been ''born again,, not of 
corruptible seed ^ but of incorruptible,, by the word of 
God idhich liveth and abideth forever,'*^ John re- 
peatedly in his first epistle calls Christians " the chil- 
dren of God ,,"*"* because " born of God^"*"* and possess- 
ing a nature resembling his. 

That every individual whom these writers addressed 

had actually experienced the renewing of the Holy 

Ghost, and thereby become new creatures in Christ, 

it is not necessary to prove. But it is in point to 

7# 



78 Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

observe that these writers considered the actual pos- 
session of a new heart, or a renewed nature, as the 
only thing which could constitute a man a child — a 
partaker of the privileges of his kingdom. Had they 
not regarded this change as necessary, had they ac- 
knowledged any as Christians who had not experi- 
enced it, they would not have addressed them all as 
they did. And their preaching to all men repentance 
towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ 
as necessary to salvation, tends to confirm the same 
sentiment, for true repentance and faith are insepara- 
bly connected with a change of heart,, so that the one 
cannot be without the other. 

But notwithstanding this strong, unequivocal, united 
and positive testimony of the sacred writers to the ne- 
cessity of a change of heart, in order to be saved from 
sin and wo, there are not a few who persuade them- 
selves that they need it not, and that it is necessary 
only for the more immoral and vicious. Thus many 
have thought and argued, who afterwards became truly 
pious — the subjects of that very change the necessity 
of which they had strenuously derided. Many who 
were as upright arud honest in their dealings, as moral 
in their habits, as amiable in their manners, and as 
useful in society, as any who were never regenerated, 
have been fully convinced that though they possessexi 
other things which were good, yet of the one thing 
needful they were entirely destitute. And while la- 
menting their sins, broken in spirit and contrite on 
account of them — while viewing themselves exposed 
to danger terrible and impending, and penitently plead- 
ing for mercy, they have been urged by their former 
associates to dismiss their fears and anxieties, and to 
delight themselves in their accustomed pleasures, and 
not allow such gloomy subjects to distress their spirits. 
They have been told that their characters were fair, 
their habits correct, their lives virtuous, and they had 
nothing to fear. But miserable comforters were they 



- Regeneration a real and necessary work. 79 

all. Their consciences told them that it was not so ; 
and the Bible and the Spirit of God told them they 
^^ must be born again.'^^ T]hey were conscious that 
they had not loved God — that they were not recon- 
ciled to him — that they had no relish for his service or 
for the happiness which he has provided for sanctified 
spirits. And this it was that troubled them. 

How very weak, then, is the evidence that there 
are any who do not need a change of heart, since the 
Bible positively declares that all do need it, and since, 
moreover, of that very class which imagined they could 
get to heaven without it, and there be forever happy, 
many, and some of those among the most virtuous and 
amiable, and highly esteemed, have been convinced 
that they were exceedingly vile, and corrupt from the 
crown of the head to the sole of the foot, and that 
unless renovated by the Spirit of God, they must per- 
ish in their sins. 

But there is something more to be said on the ne- 
cessity of being born again. 

1 . Without it no one can be pardoned. Every one 
who has any knowledge of the Bible, knows that it 
teaches his sinfulness in the sight of God. There is 
probably not a heathen nation on earth that does not 
acknowledge the existence of sin, and seek to atone 
for it by sacrifice to some deity. If then you have 
sinned, little or much, can you be happy with God in 
heaven, unless he first forgive you ? But God cannot 
consistently forgive you unless your moral dispositions 
are changed, and your heart humbled by deep repent- 
ance. Might not a nation as well be without laws and 
rulers, as to authorize iheir rulers to pardon criminals 
who exhibit no signs of penitence on account of their 
offences ? What security could the honest and indus- 
trious citizen have, if the thief, the robber, the mid- 
night assassin with hearts unrelenting, and bent on the 
destruction of property, domestic enjoyment, and even 
life itself, were let loose from their confinement ? 



80 Regeneration a real and necessary work. 

Would magistrates do their duty to the community in 
pardoning such persons ? Would the laws have any 
more influence in such a case than the opinions of the 
most obscure indiv^idual in the commonwealth ? 

And how can God pardon the sinner who does not 
repent of his sins — whose purposes are not so altered, 
whose dispositions and heart are not so changed as to 
render it certain that he will not persist in the com- 
mission of sin ? If God forgive such an one, can there 
be any security that he will not afterwards trample on 
the Divine laws and authority ? Is it not certain that 
he will continue to do as he has done ? There is no 
change in his nature, in his disposition, in his purposes, 
and he will Hve on as he has Hved. The purposes of 
God to protect the good, and preserve the honor of 
his own government are such as render it utterly in- 
consistent to pardon the impenitent. Hence it is that 
he commands all men every where to repent. It is 
in vain that you make excuses and apologies for your 
sins, for if you have not had sufficient reverence and 
love for God to keep you from sinning against him, 
then it is certain you never will have, unless your 
hearts are renewed by the Divine Spirit. 

2. Without this change^ no raan can enjoy the hap- 
piness which God has prepared for his people, Christ 
c'^me into the world, not to disturb the enjoyment of 
domestic felicity, but by his grace to sw^eeten it — not 
to render men unhappy in their law^ful and laudable 
pursuits, but to purify, enlarge and multiply the 
sources of their happiness — not to injure men in the 
elightest thing, but to do them infinite good — not to 
destroy, but to save them. You know how be w^as 
received, how he was treated. Does it need argu- 
ment to prove that those who derided and rejected 
were entirely unprepared to enjoy the happiness which 
God has provided for his people ? If they could not 
relish what came from God, could they be happy with 
him ? If God manifested in humanity, or veiled in 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 81 

our nature, was so much despised by them, could they 
behold him unveiled,. with complacency and joy ? Or 
those who persecuted his apostles from city to city, 
because they informed men how they could be forever 
happy, were they in a state of mind to enjoy the hap- 
piness of heaven — to sit down in the kingdom of Gpd 
with those whom they stoned, and scourged, impris- 
oned and put to death, and with them unite in prais- 
ing God and the Lamb ? You see at once the abso- 
lute necessity of a sinner's being renewed in order 
to his preparation for the bliss of the upper world. 
And those who now think they could be happy in 
heaven without a change of heart, should consider the 
matter very seriously. If now they love not to bow 
before God, they would not, with their present dispo- 
sitions, love to worship him in heaven. If now his 
gospel is not food and solace to their souls, they would 
not delight to follow the Lamb to living fountains of 
w^ater. If now they cannot cheerfully devote their 
all to his service and glory, then it is quite certain that 
if in an unregenerated state, they were to receive a 
crown of life, they would not joyfully cast it, as the 
inhabitants of heaven do theirs, at the feet of their 
Sovereign. If now they have no rehsh for divine 
things, merely removing them to heaven would give 
them none. If you would *ever become the joyful 
inhabitants of that happy place, '^ Ye mitst be born 
again. '^'^ 

3. Without a change of hearty men will hereafter 
think and feel and act just as they do here^ so far as 
the nature of the case will render it possible for thera. 
Even the ungodly differ from each other in many 
things. Some are dishonest, and it seems in their 
very nature to be so. Some do not use fairness in 
their dealings, but are ever practising fraud, and all 
the arts of deception. Some are very ungrateful for 
favors received, or kindnesses shown them. Some 
are envious, and cannot bear to see those who are 



82 Regeneration a real and necessary loork, 

nearly their equals, more prosperous than themselves. 
Some are passionate and violenr, cruel and oppressive. 
Some are false and perfidious ; some love to slander 
and detract ; and some can hardly speak without tak- 
ing the name of God in vain. Supposing that when 
tli^se men of different habits and characters die, they 
are, in an unrenewed state, admitted into heaven. One 
would soon become envious of the dignity of those 
more exalted than himself, and another would begin 
to slander his neighbors, and another to utter false- 
hoods, and another to curse and swear in the very 
face of Jehovah ! But I forbear. You must see the 
absurdity of supposing that men can be happy in 
heaven, while possessing an unholy nature. But God 
has declared that nothing can enter there which defileth, 
or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. 

This change, so important, so absolutely necessary, 
must be accomplished in the present life. I know 
there are some who tell us that it will surely take place 
at death if not sooner. But how came they by such 
information ? God has not told us so in his holy word. 
And as he has revealed so much that is profitable for 
us, w^e can hardly account for the fact of his not giving 
us this piece of information — if it indeed be true — for 
it would tend more to make some men happy, than all 
he has revealed. But h-ow came men by this wonder- 
ful knowledge ? Have any watched the soul of the 
dying man so narrowly as to perceive the change 
when it leaves the body ? Or have any made the ex- 
periment and furnished the information ? No. The 
notion rests on the same basis as the doctrine of trans- 
migration of souls, cherished by dark-hearted pagans. 

Besides, were such a notion true, we could see but 
litde wisdoni- in God's appointing the use of such 
means as he has for the conversion of souls in this life. 
Why should Christ command to preach his gospel to 
every creature? Why are all men every where com- 
manded to repent.^ If death, through which we are to 



Regeneration a real and necessary work, 83 

pass, is to produce the necessary change jn their 
hearts, to prepare them for heaven, why not all wait 
for its arrival? But we have no evidence that death 
will produce any change on the soul, except merely 
to disengage it from the body. 

Some again tell us that the change will take place 
after death, and upon similar authority. The Bible 
tells us of no such thing. On the contrary, it com- 
mands us to do, what our hands find to do with our 
might, because after death we can do nothing more to 
prepare us for happiness. It requires us to work while 
the day lasts, because the night is coming wherein no 
man can work. It tells us that at the day of judgment 
we shall be judged according to the deeds done here 
in the body. No account is given of any other state 
than this for trial and preparation ; and he who neg- 
lects the present opportunity in hope of finding another, 
will see and lament his error when it is too late to 
correct it. 



sERMOjv vm. 



The duties and encouragement of a gospel minister. 

1 Peter v: 2 — 4. Feed the flock of God which is among 
you, taking the oversight thereof, net by constraint, but willing- 
ly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being 
lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And 
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away. 

The meaning of the apostle in this passage, is per- 
fectly plain. He is teaching ministers their duty to 
the church of Christ, designating the motives by which 
they should be actuated, and exhibiting the encourage- 
ments which they have to be faithful. Upon these 
three topicfe, I purpose to present a few considerations. 

1 . The duty of ministers to the church of Christ — 
"• Feed the flock of Godiohichis among you^^^ — or, to 
drop the figure, exhibit to the saints the whole gospel 
of Jesus Christ, in such a manner that they may all un- 
derstand it — may all feel a deep, lively, and personal 
interest in it — may all yield a cheerful obedience to its 
commands, and all enjoy its sweet and abundant con- 
solations. As our animal nature, or life, receives its 
support and nourishment wholly from our daily food, 
so our souls receive that sustenance which preserves, 
perpetuates and cherishes the divine life in them from 
the truths of the v^^ord of God. The^sanctification, 
health and happiness of the soul can be promoted only 
by a serious and prayerful contemplation of divine 
things. 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister, 86 

Would you improve and strengthen any of the fac- 
ulties of the human mind, you give them exercise in 
their appropriate spheres of action. The imagination 
is cultivated by reading imaginative works, or by being 
exercised in reference to those objects on which it 
loves to dwell. The reasoning powers are strength- 
ened by employing them in matters where there is oc- 
casion for argument and calculation — for nice discrim- 
ination and the balancing of probabilities. If you 
would increase one's courage, you familiarize him to 
scenes of danger — the perils of the deep, or the hor- 
rors of war — and his bosom is soon shielded against 
the intrusion of that timidity which is common to the 
youthful and inexperienced. To acquire a refined 
taste for literature, or for the fine arts, one must ac- 
quaint himself with works of great literary merit, and 
with the finest productions of the most skilful artists. 
Thus every power of the mind is improved by being 
exercised in its own appropriate sphere of action — by 
being brought into frequent and familiar contact with 
objects to which it is adapted by our Creator-— by 
being supplied with its proper aliment. 

Thus, too, our spiritual nature is cultivated and 
improved and sanctified by contemplating and ^dwel- 
ling much upon spiritual and divine subjects, such as 
the word of God presents. Divine truth forms the 
proper aliment of the soul — the only aliment upon 
which it can live and flourish — and you might as well 
think of finding the faculties of our physical nature 
developed and carried to the highest possible degree 
of culture and perfection — or of finding the healthiest, 
most robust, and persevering man nurtured in the lap 
of ease, and guarded from every wind and storm, as 
to expect to find a soul healthy, holy and happy while 
not under the influence and control of the truths of the 
gospel. The Bible — the great and rich system of 
divine and supernaturally revealed truth forms the only 
appropriate sphere in which the souls of men can 
8 



86 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister^ 

think, and move, and act, acquire strength, holiness^ 
and happiness, and prepare for the enjoyment of God 
and heaven forever. Thus we are taught : — ^^ The 
law of the Lord is perfect^ converting the soul. The 
testimony of the Lordis sure^ making wise the simple. 
The statutes of the Lord are right,, rejoicing the heart. 
The commandment of the Lord is pure,, enlightening 
the ej/e^." '^ The entrance of thy word giveth light : 
it giveth understanding to the simple, "^"^ '^ Sanctify 
them through thy truth : thy word is truth,'^^ '' / am 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christy for it is the power 
of God unto salvation. ^^ 

Such being the adaptation of truth to benefit the 
mind, it is evidently the duty of the Christian minister, 
if he w^ould ''feed the flock of God^^^ to present to 
them the various topics of revelation in their true 
light, relations and importance. 

If then the Christian character, in all its traits and 
features, is formed by the influence of divine truth, it 
follows that the whole gospel should be exhibited, in 
order that Christians may attain to the fulness of per- 
fect stature in Christ Jesus. What I mean is, not 
that the preacher should preach from every sentence 
in the^ Bible, or make every possible application of 
every portion of Scripture — for then must he live 
through all ages, and possess knowledge far superior 
to that of any mortal— but that all the capital doctrines 
and precepts of the Bible should be clearly illustrated 
and forcibly appHed. All the-se should be brought 
before the people freely^ fwHy, boldly, and without 
partiality. Nothing should be kept back through the 
disrehsh, or apprehended disrelish of any man. Some 
truths are fundamental, and in every discourse should 
be either formally mentioned, or clearly implied. 
Some are of such vital importance, as^ it respects the 
conversion and salvation of souls, that an omission of 
them is sufficient to render the preaching of all others 
vain and ineffectual. Such is the doctrine of salvation 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 87 

exclusively by the cross of Christ. If the cross be 
not constantly appealed to, as proof of the exceeding 
sinfulness of sin, and of the wonderful love and con- 
descension of God to man, then will the preaching, 
however true, learned, and eloquent, fail of affecting 
the heart and bringing the sinner to submit to God. 
Paul evidently viewed the subject in this hght. He 
would glory in nothing except the cross — and he would 
know, or make known, nothing except Jesus Christ 
and him crucified. 

But we would not have a preacher make this or any 
other doctrine the immediate topic of every discourse. 
There are various truths supposed by every primary 
doctrine, various branches pertaining to it, various 
consequences arising from it, various duties corres- 
ponding with it, and various evils hostile to it, on all 
of which he should dwelL And as '' all Scripture is 
given by inspiration of God^ and is profitable for doc- 
trine^ for reproof for correction^ jor instruction in 
righteousness^'^'' and necessary to make the ^^ man of 
God perfect^ thoroughly furnished to every good work^^"* 
so he should preach all Scripture, Some preachers 
seem to dwell almost entirely on the duties we owe to 
man — others as exclusively on the duties we owe to 
God. Some preach apparently only to alarm and ter- 
rify — others as manifestly aim to sooth and comfort. 
Some, shunning w^hat is unpopular, preach only smooth 
things — others seem to preach so as purposely to ex- 
cite and increase the prejudices and hostility of the 
hearers against the truth. But while the duties of the 
Christian profession are insisted on, those of common 
morality should not be neglected. While the care- 
less and thoughtless are to be aroused by terror, the 
broken hearted and the contrite should be encouraged 
and comforted. 

Tliis leads me to remark further, that the minister of 
the gospel should ^' rightly divide the word of truth,'''* 
,ln this passage of Paul to Timothy, there is an alki- 



88 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 

sion to one who carves at table, and distributes meat 
to the guests, according to their age and state of 
health. Thus the minister is required to adapt his 
instructions to the character and circumstances of ev- 
ery individual. The young and inexperienced, he, 
like Paul, will feed with milk and not with strong 
meat. Towards them he will be gentle, as a nurse 
cherisheth her children. The timid he will aim to 
embolden, by reminding them of the care of God for 
them, and of their security in him. If any know not 
their duty, and through fear of going wrong remain 
stationary, he should labor to show them tte will of 
God- — to remove the doubts and uncertainties which 
rest upon their minds, by holding up to their view 
the light of the gospel. Those who are asleep he 
will try to awake, by calling on them, in the name of 
his God, to arise and do their duty. The afflicted, 
tried, and tempted, he will aim to comfort and 
strengthen, by opening to their view the sources of 
divine consolation — by presenting to their minds the 
exceeding great and precious promises of God. If 
any depart from truth and duty into a forbidden region, 
he must follow them with his warning voice, remind 
them in the name of Jesus of their violated vows, their 
perfidy and guilt, and urge them to return lest they 
perish. In whatever grace or duty he sees that his 
people are deficient, he will strive to call their atten- 
tion to their deficiency, and to the seeking of those 
things which are lacking, in order that they may at last 
be presented to God, perfect in Christ Jesus, without^ 
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 

And though it may often be most painful to his heart 
to perform this part of his duty, yet as their welfare, 
and the honor of the cause of truth, and more espe- 
cially the command and glory of Jesus Christ require 
it, he will not dare to be neghgent or unfaithful. He 
must search the wound and ascertain its nature and ex- 
tent, before he can apply judiciously the appropriate 



Duties and entowagements of a gospel minister. 89 

remedy. He must faithfully use the sword of the 
Spirit, though occasionally he may pierce a tender 
part, or inflict a severe pang. 

The gospel, it is evident, can do no good, unless it 
is understood by those who hear it. Letters cannot 
be formed into words, and words into sentences, and 
sentences into a discourse, and then this be pronounc- 
ed so that the mere sound shall contain a charm, a 
power to move the heart, to control the will, to make 
the sinner hate his sins — a power to humble the proud, 
and to make the revengeful mild and forgiving. It is 
not the sound of words, though the words relate to 
divine truths, which produces these important effects. 
But it is the influence of divine truth itself when under- 
stood, and received into the heart in the love of it. 

Hence, the preacher must use plainness and sim- 
plicity in the proclamation of the gospel, Paul says, 
^^ I would rather speak five icords ivith my understand- 
ing that with my voice I might teach others also^ than 
ten thousand uords in an unknown tongue,'''^ An at- 
tempt to display and to dazzle by employing a multi- 
tude of high sounding words, may perhaps take with 
those whose only wish is to be amused by sound — and 
the frequent use and repetition of words w^hich to the 
auditors are new and unheard of, may acquire for the 
speaker the fame of being learned and profound. 
But all who desire to learn and be profited, w^ill be 
disgusted at his pedantry and affectation of learning. 
To such his preaching will be in ••' an unknown 
tongue,'''^ The man who best understands his subject, 
and feels its importance-— who understands human 
nature, and most ardently desires to do good to others, 
will ahvays be the most plain and intelligible in the 
use of language. ^Nowhei^ else is plainness so im- 
portant as in preaching the word of God. There is 
little danger of excess in this particular. There may 
be a want of ideas, of inferesting and attractive matter, 
but there can be no such thing as an excessive perspi- 
cuity. 



90 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 

Again, if the preacher would have the truth felt, he 
should so exhibit divine subjects that they may appear 
in their actual importance. 

The gospel should be preached earnestly. The 
speaker should appear to say what he believes, and 
believe what he says. There should be such a per- 
suasive earnestness in his manner, that no one can 
doubt his sincerity or his honesty, or imagine that he 
does not consider his subjects as immensely important. 

He who talks of God, of death, of judgment, of 
eternity, of heaven, of hell, — that is, he who treats of 
the great topics of the Bible, should also be solemn. 
The man who seeks to ^' court a grin,'^' to please the 
fancy, to gain applause, may employ wit and levity — 
this is his business. But this is not the business of the 
ambassador of Jesus Christ. 

His manner should also be affectionate. Arguments 
are always the most cogent and irresistible, when pre- 
sented and enforced in the spirit of tenderness. Some 
of the most terrific representations of the word of 
G-od may be so exhibited, when bedewed with the 
tears of affection, as to gain the listening ear, and melt 
the obdurate heart. 

In an earnest^ solemn^ and affectionate manner must 
the minister of the word declare the truths of the gos- 
pel — what great things God has prepared for them that 
love him, and what inconceivable anguish awaits those 
who obey not the gospel of his Son. While the death 
of Christ will ever.be his most touching and eifectual 
argument in urging upon men the performance of their 
duties, he will not conceal from them the fact that 
God has ^' appointed a day in which he ivill judge the 
ivorld in righteousness^^ ^ and render to every man ac- 
cording to his deeds, whether they be good or evil. 
So that w^hile to those who, '' by patient continuance 
in well-doings seek for glory and honor and immortal- 
ity ^^"^ he will render '' eternal /i/e"— to them, on the 
contrary, that " are contentious^ and do not obey the 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 91 

truths but obey unrighteousness ^^^ he will render '' in- 
dignation and lorith ;" '' Tribulation and anguish to 
every soul of man that doeth evil ; but glory ^ honor 
and peace to every man that worketh good,"^"^ And 
there will be no deviation from this rule. 

The '' good steward of the manifold grace of God^"^"^ 
while feeding the ^^ flock of God^^^ &c. will seek the 
preservation and enlargement of that flock. Some 
maintain the sentiment, and act accordingly, that the 
gospel is to be preached only to such as have received 
Jesus Christ, and that they have nothing to say to im- 
penitent sinners except what the law saith — that no 
invitations, no hope, no Saviour are to be set forth to 
them. I find no such limitation of the sacred office in 
tlie Bible. The watchman, though stationed on Zion^s 
wall, is to warn the wicked who are not citizens of 
Zion. He that is sent out to invite guests to his 
Master's table, is positively required to bid as many 
as he finds to come to the feast. The Author and 
Finisher of our faith commands his servants to preach 
the gospel to every creature. 

It should therefore be expected that he who under- 
takes to preach the gospel, should say to all, '' repent 
ye^for the kingdom of heaven is" not only '' at hand^^^ 
hut "• is come nigh unto you,"^^ ^' Repent ye^ there- 
fore^ and be converted^ that your sins may be blotted 
out.'^^ He is to assure sinners, for so the Saviour did, 
that unless they be born again they cannot see the 
kingdom of God — that unless they believe in Jesus 
Christ, where he is gone they can never go — that 
unless they become new creatures Christ shall profit 
them nothing — that into the kingdom of heaven noth- 
ing shall enter that defileth, or worketh abomination, 
or maketh a lie, but they, only whose names are writ- 
ten in the Lamb's book of life. As the ambassador 
of the Lord of heaven and earth to men, he is to make 
known to them the method of their return and recon- 
ciliation to God, and to spare no effort to persuade 



92 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister, 

them to submit at the faet of sovereign mercy, and 
thus escape the wrath of offended justice. . He will 
assure them of God's willingness to forgive and restore 
them when they penitently confess their sins, and 
return to him through the mediation of his Son — and 
that if they comply, all the privileges of the sons of 
God shall be theirs in time and in eternity — but that, 
if they refuse compliance, and will not accept the 
proffered and wholly unmerited favor of God, he will 
treat them as incorrigible offenders, and exclude them 
forever from all the benefits of his heavenly kingdom. 
By the voice of Providence, the voice of conscience, 
and the voice of the word of God, he will strive to 
awaken the thoughtless, and the careless, to excite the 
indifferent, and the hardened, the young and the old, 
the man of pleasure and the man of business, the man 
of fashion, and the man of folly, to serious and prayer- 
ful consideration of the religion of Jesus Christ. This 
will he do, not to offend men, but to please God — not 
to spread a gloom over the world, but to open to men 
the prospect, the bright and cheering prospect of the 
heavenly inheritance — not to make men unhappy, but 
to make them like the angels of God — not to induce 
them to throw away the cup of worldly good which 
God giveth them to drink, but to persuade them to 
take the sweeter and infinitely more precious cup of 
salvation, and drink full draughts of the water of life, 
that they may never thirst again, but have in them this 
water springing up into everlasting life. 

Thus will the Shepherd of the flock of God seek to 
multiply the number of that flock — to add to it such as 
shall be owned by the great Shepherd and Bishop of 
souls, when he comes to gather all his flock into one 
fold, even heaven — and when he himself will lead them 
to living fountains of water, and feed them with the 
''fruit of the tree of life^ which is in. the midst of 
the paradise of God. 



SERMON IX. 



The same subject continued. 

1 Peter v: 2 — 4. Feed the flock of God which is among 
you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willing- 
ly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being 
lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And 
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away. 

The preaching of the gospel is unquestionably the 
main duly of a minister of Christ ; but it is not his 
only duty. He must visit the flock of God which is 
committed to his care. The physician never thinks of 
prescribing for the diseased until he has examined 
their case. The shepherd must go frequently into the 
midst of his flock, in order to understand their circum- 
stances, and be qualified to administer to their neces- 
sities. And it is only by visiting his people that the 
shepherd of the flock of God can learn their state and 
condition, their wants and woes, their maladies and 
the needful remedies. By being aMowed a free access 
to their hearts, he will he enabled to preach the gos- 
pel with greater appropriateness to individual circum- 
stances. New and interesting truths and relations of 
truths will be suggested to his mind, while conversing 
with them about religious experience. His own soul 
will receive a new impulse, and when he addresses his 
hearers, he will be more zealous and earnest. At 
such visits, too, he will be able to impart such peculiar 
counsel, exhortation and encouragement as could not 



94 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 

be furnished in the public ministrations of the word. 
Besides, whatever he may say at such a time, may 
have an advantage over what is more public — it may 
be realized by the individual, as directed to Aim, and 
npt to another, as touching his own case, and demand- 
ing his serious consideration. 

The amount of labor of this kind which a minister 
should perform, will be regulated by circumstances. 
No precise rules can be adopted that would be appli- 
cable at all times and in all places. 

At such an age as the present, it may well be ex- 
pected that the prof essed expounder of the Bible should 
endeavor that Sabbath School and Bible Class instruc- 
tion may be enjoyed by the children and youth — if 
not by others of his flock. Of course the care of the 
Bible Class will devolve more immediately on himself 
— and if it be truly the case, as before stated, that it 
is the truth understood and felt that saves us, it would 
seem that this is the kind of instruction which all need, 
and which would be most likely to profit our souls. 
The social and prayerful study of the Holy Scriptures, 
I should regard of as much importance to a Church, of 
Christ, in forming its character, and preparing it for 
useful service, as training and drilling under an expe- 
rienced tactician, are to an army of soldiers. If from 
the Bible our souls derive all their nourishment and 
support — if from this, source we obtain all our rules of 
life, and the worthy examples which we ought to 
imitate — if, as soldiers of the cross, we thence derive 
our armour and all the weapons of our warfare — if 
divine truth is the principal instrument in the formation 
of the Christian character^ it would seem to require 
no argument to recommend to the friends of truth the 
importance of the social study of the word of God. 
As this method of studying the Scriptures would re- 
quire an effort on the part of all engaged in it, and as 
their minds would be brought into contact with pure 
Bible truth^ I should expect they would derive from 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 95 

it invaluable benefit. The Psalmist says of the right- 
eous man — '' His delight is in the laic of the Lord^ 
and in his law doth he meditate day and night,'^'^ May 
you too, find it your delight. 

The Church of Christ was instituted, not only to 
be the nursery of the saints, but also the depository Qf 
the truth — or, as Paul expresses it, " the pillar and 
ground of the truth, '''^ One of its primary duties, 
therefore, is to preserve and promulgate the truths of 
God's word. Hence, the sending and sustaining of 
missionaries among the heathen, the education of the 
sons of Zion to become her watchmen, and the various 
schemes devised by Christian wisdom, and executed 
by Christian love, to spread abroad the triumphs of 
the gospel — these will all receive countenance and 
support from the minister of the word. And he will 
feelJt incumbent on him to urge the people of his 
charge to aid and further them by their fervent prayers, 
and by voluntary, liberal contributions of their worldly 
substance. This he will do, not because it is a fash- 
ionable thing — not because it will give his people re- 
spectability in the eyes of others, but because it is 
their duty and their privilege to aid the triumphs of 
the Redeemer, and to do good, especially spiritual 
good, to all men. God has so signified his approba- 
tion of these institutions, that there now remains no 
doubt, except with such as are grossly ignorant, or 
wilfully prejudiced with reference to the subject — 
whether they should be sustained and encouraged or 
not. We might as well doubt whether the gospel 
ought to be preached at all, as to question whether it 
should be preached to the heathen. 

Christian ministers are to take the '' oversighf^ of 
the flock of God. The spiritual advantage of individ- 
uals, the success of the Church, and the glory of God 
will best be promoted, when ministers properly hold 
and exercise that authority in the Church which in the 
Scriptures is attached to the sacred office. Order 



96 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister^ 

is indispensable to the well-being of any community. 
It is peculiarly so to a Church, which without it would 
not be a body growing up into him in all things who is 
the Head, even Christ, but a number of scattered 
members. If all the body were an eye, where would 
be the hearing? Where the just proportion, beauty 
and symmetry of the system? But now hath God set 
the members, every one of them, in the body as hath 
pleased him. And it is made the duty of the minister 
to rule well, to take the oversight of the flock, not as 
lording it over God's heritage, but as ensamples to the 
flock. And by an apostle it is enjoined on the flock 
to obey them that have the rule over them, and to 
submit themselves. 

But the government of the Church of Christ is not 
of an arbitrary character. It is to be administered by 
those who are freely chosen and approved by the 
Church. The will of Christ, and not their will, con- 
stitutes the rule to which the obedience and submis- 
sion of the Church is required. The magistrates of a 
free people administer government according to law. 
So Pastors of Churches are to inculcate duties and to 
rule in all things according to the law of Christ. If 
they depart therefrom, they are not to be obeyed. 
Again ; they are not themselves exempt from that 
law, nor are they superior to it. The things which 
they urge on others are equally binding on themselves. 
They are not to lade men with heavy burdens, and 
grievous to be borne, to which they would not put 
one of their fingers, but are to be ensamples to the 
flock, in word, in conversation, inicharity, in spirit, 
in faith, in purity. In directing the disciples of God's 
house, they should check disorder, and preserve proper 
decorum, avoiding all favoritism and prejudice, all 
cunning artifice and worldly poHcy, all selfish schemes 
and by-ends. 

Omitting such things as obviously are the duty of 
ministers only, such as administering ordinances of the 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister, 91 

house of God, and ordaining other ministers, I hasten 
to observe, that the minister who would perform the 
duties which have been enumerated, with any comfort 
to himself, with profit to his people, and to the glory 
of God his Saviour, must be much engaged in search- 
ing the Scriptures, in order from their abundant treas- 
ure to bring forth new things and old. I have no 
idea, my hearers, that God has conferred on us any 
powers of mind which he does not require us to 
exercise and improve. And as reading and reflection 
are die means of improving our minds, and as God 
now bestows on his servants no miraculous gifts, we 
are bound to study and thus by painful, persevering 
effort qualify ourselves to feed the flock of God with 
''knowledge and understanding.'^^ We can pretend 
to no special inspiration from the Almighty. But 
when we search the Scriptures prayerfully, and strive 
to ascertain the truth, the Divine Spirit, I doubt not 
will lead our minds into a fruitful acquaintance with the 
mysteries of godliness. Neglecting study we might 
live an easier life, but our profiting would appear to 
few. 

Even if the truth of God had no acute and perverse 
opposers, the minister w^ould need much study in order 
to preach the whole truth in the manner which we have 
designated. But there is much error abroad in the 
world. There is a learned infidelity which secredy 
would sap the foundations of Christianity — an infideli- 
ty that acquaints itself with the manners and customs, 
the laws and literature, the language and history of the. 
nation to which were first committed the oracles of 
truth, and by learning and philosophy seeks to estab- 
lish itself upon a divine foundation. From a boasted 
knowledge of the idioms of the Bible, and the usage 
of the language to which the sacred writers were ac- 
customed, it endeavors to explain the word of God in 
accordance with its own views — ^so that the Bible, 
misinterpreted, is turned as a weapon against itself. 
9 



98 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 

Such being the state of things, the minister who is set 
for the defence of the truth, ought to know what is 
truth — what to defend as divine, and what to give up 
as human. He ought to know what arguments may 
be employed in the direct defence of the truth, and 
\vhat in obviating objections, and removing difficul- 
ties. He ought to know all the sources whence infi- 
deUty derives hs w^eapons, and be able to show w^hat 
doctrines the Bible does teach, and how that no fair 
and faithful interpretation can eject those doctrines 
from the system of divine truth. 

To do this he must read and study many, things 
which serve to explain the Bible, especially the figures 
and allusions contained in it. He must be acquainted 
with the history of the ancient people of God, and with 
the history of the Church of Christ in different ages 
since its establishment. 

I now hasten briefly to notice 

2. The motives and feelings by ivhich the minister 
of Christ should be actuated and impelled in the execu- 
tion of his duties, 

^^ Jfot by constraint J but willingly. "^^ They are not 
to regard the service of their Lord and Master as a 
•task imposed upon them, a task from which they would 
gladly escape, if they could without suffering painful 
consequences — but rather as an exalted privilege, a 
high honor, a glorious employment. They should 
cheerfully enter the vineyard of the Lord, and perform 
the allotted service, even though great reproach and 
persecution might be the result. 

. ^'-fJSot for filthy lucre^ but ofaready mind.'^^ They 
should be shepherds of the flock of God, not for the 
^ake of amassing^ wealth, as the false prophets in 
Isaiah's time, who were never satisfied — not as the 
false teachers in the days of the apostle, who, through 
covetousness made merchandize of men, and supposed 
that gain was godliness — not for the sake of gaining 
applause and distinction — '' but with a ready mind^- — 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister. 99 

a disposition sincere and prompt to advance the glory 
of God and the good of immortal souls, let the conse- 
quences be what they may. And in this respect they 
would do well to look unto Jesus for an example,who 
loved his Churchy and ^' with a ready mindy^"^ gave 
himself for her redemption. « 

'' J^'ot as being lords over God^sheritage.'^^ Min- 
isters are not to rule in an arbitrary and tyranical man- 
ner, '' but being ensamplesto the jiock.'''^ They should 
furnish in their own temper and conduct such examples 
as the people may safely follow. It will be in vain 
for them to urge on others the duties of religion, if 
they do not themselves perform them — in vain that 
they recommend good works, if their ow^n works be 
evil — in vain to preach that men should be humble, 
gentle, mild, forgiving, and forbearing, if they them- 
selves are proud, overbearing, resentful, and revenge- 
ful — in vain to urge men to lay up a treasure in heav- 
en, when their own treasure and hearts are manifestly 
on the earth. To no good purpose will they preach 
good and true doctrines, however earnest and eloquent, 
and solemn they may at the lime appear, if they dis- 
grace those doctrines by an unholy fife. 

In order to secure the esteem and affection of their 
people, and respectability and influence in society — in 
order to recommend and adorn the doctrine of the 
gospel, and advance the interests of the Church, and 
promote the happiness of immortal souls, and the glory 
of him, whose they are, and whom they profess to 
serve,- they must by a harmless and consistent life en- 
force the doctrines and duties of religion on those 
among whom they Hve and labor. 

Doing the Lord's service in this manner faithfully 
and perseveringly, they have' 

3. The cheering promise to encourage them^ that 
'^ when the chief Shepherd shall appear^ they shall re- 
ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.'''^ 

Such as enter the ministry of the gospel for the sake 
of obtaining a livelihood, having no other than a w^orld- 



100 Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister, 

ly policy, and no other motives than such as influence 
other men in choosing other occupations, will have 
their reward ; — they may realize their expectations. 
Such as choose the sacred profession for the purpose 
of securing respect, applause, and honor from men, 
may not b^ disappointed. If any are actuated by sor- 
did motives, and enter the office for filthy lucre — or 
should any choose the hfe of a minister, thinking to 
enjoy a life of ease and indulgence, they may bear the 
sacred name, and reahze all their hopes. Such is the 
state of society, that men may from almost any motive 
select the profession of the ministry, and be upheld 
and honored by some. But such as areinfluenced by 
selfish considerations, have no encouragement from 
the Scriptures to hope for the reward which Christ has 
promised to all his faithful servants. Only such as do 
the will of God in entering the ministry, and consci- 
entiously and faithfully performing its duties, w^ith a sin- 
gle eye to the glory of God, are entitled to expect 
from the hands of the chief Shepherd the unfading 
crown of glory. Many of the devoted servants of Je- 
sus Christ, while honestly and successfully discharging 
their duties, have been calumniated and abused, have 
been scourged and imprisoned, have been tortured and 
led to the stake ; but in the midst, of all this — 

*« That prize with peerless glories bright. 
Which shall new lustre boast, 
When victor's wreaths and monarch's gems 
Shall blend with common dust" — 

that prize has allured them on to God and glory. In 
the midst of all their toils and hardships, difficulties 
and discouragements, anxieties and perplexities, sor- 
rows and depressions, cares and responsibilities, of all 
which they have had many, they have been encourag- 
ed by the precious promises of the Lord. When 
occasionally they have been permitted to introduce 
into the flock of God, one and another who have been 
converted by their labors, they have felt that they were 



Duties and encouragements of a gospel minister, 101 

rewarded a hundred fold for all their anxieties, tears 
and labors. But when, in the last day, they shall be 
permitted to present to God those whom they have in- 
strumentally turned to righteousness — when perfected 
in Christ Jesus, and brought safely through all scenes 
of trial and temptation, they shall present them before 
the throne, then their joy will be full, and their crown 
of rejoicing make them forget all sorrow forever. 

The apostle Paul in prison, expecting hourly to be 
executed, contemplates the past, the present and the 
future, and though he had suffered much in the ser- 
vice of his Master, yet he calmly declares, '' I have 
fought a good fight ^ I have kept the faith. Henceforth 
there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me, which 
the Lord,, the righteous Judge ^ shall give me at that 
day ; and not to me only^ but to all them also that love 
Ms appearing,'^'' 

that every one who engages in this holy work 
tnay pursue it with the same spirit as did Paul, and at 
the conclusion of his career be able to utter the same 
triumphant assurance of a rich and incorruptible re- 
ward. 



SERMOjV X. 



The claims of the Missionary cause. 

Mark xvi: 15. Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature. 

This evangelist closes his gospel by saying that the 
apostles, in accordance with their commission, ''went 
forth J and preached every where ^ the Lord ivorking 
with them^ and confirming the word ivith signs follow- 
ing,'^^ Of the full amount of their labors, the extent 
of those regions into which they introduced the gos- 
pel, and full measure of their success, none of the 
sacred writers have informed us. We hear, indeed, 
but little of any of the apostles, after the ascension of , 
their Master, except of Peter, James, John and Paul. 
Though great and astonishing success attended the 
labors of these holy men in whatever places they en- 
tered, yet they met with much opposition. As we 
follov/ them from city to city, and from country to 
country, we hear of repeated tumults, and uproars, 
even of whole cities thrown into confusion of the ut- 
most disorder on account of these preachers of the 
gospel. So common were such scenes wherever they 
went, that their enemies spoke of them as having 
'' turned the world upside down,'^'^ I wonder if there 
were then no '' good sort of people" who thought 
these men had better be at home, and not be occa- 
sioning so much disturbance ?" I ask. not whether idol- 
aters did not think thus ; I know they did, and that 



The claims of the Missionary cause, 103 

they spared no effort to prevent the preaching of the 
gospel, and to prevent the people from beHeving it. 
But v^ere there no easy, peaceable, pretended believ- 
ers, who admitted the rehgionof Jesus to be true and 
very good, and yet would not approve and encourage 
the apostles in their vigorous, self-denying efforts to 
extend the triumphs of this same religion ? Were there 
then no professors who thought it better to allow the 
heathen to continue in the undisturbed enjoyment of 
their old religion, than to sacrifice so much to break 
up their habits gmd prejudices, and persuade them to 
embrace a new one ? If there were any of this stamp, 
they evidently had but little influence, for the gospel 
continued to spread and achieve its glorious conquests 
over the abounding idolatry of the times. If there 
were not any such, those were surely happy times, 
very difl^erent from the age in which we live. 

The example of the apostles is far enough from 
teaching us to confine all our benevolent efforts with- 
in the limits of our own neighborhood or even country. 
They did, indeed, preach Christ to their neighbors 
and countrymen ; but, without waiting till all these 
were converted to Christianity, they went forth, as 
true missionaries of the cross, to remote regions and 
heathen nations. For their own generation had not 
passed away, when Christ had disciples not only in 
Judea and Samaria, bgt in Syria, Phenice, Mesopo- 
tamia, Arabia, the countries of Asia Minor, Greece, 
Macedonia, Italy, Egypt and Ethiopia. The fact 
seems to be, they felt they had a right to go where 
there w^as the greatest prospect of success in their 
cause. They were the servants of the Lord of heav- 
en and earth, and so long as they did not trespass on 
the rights and hberties of their fellow creatures, they 
did not think themselves to be intruding, let them go 
where they would. 

They evidently taught the Churches which they 
planted in various places, to aid in the propagation of 



1 04 The claims of the Missionary cause, 

the gospel, not only by their fervent, constant and 
united prayers for those who pubhshed 'salvation, but 
also by pecuniary contributions, voluntarily made, for 
the sustenance of those devoted and laborious- men. 
Of this I cannot doubt when I open the sacred volume, 
and read in the language of Paul himself, his acknowl- 
edgment of having repeatedly received such contribu- 
tions from one of the Churches. 

If, therefore, we follow the example of the apostles 
and primitive Churches, who had theJDest means of 
knowing the mind of Christ, the causo of missions will 
by us be sustained. There can be no doubt that this 
cause is emphatically the caus^ of God and of his 
Christ. 

The lime was when the world which we inhabit 
constituted a part of the loyal kingdom of God — when 
every thought, and feehng, and imagination of the heart 
was pure — when there went up from all its plains, its 
vallies, audits mountains nothing but the sweet fra- 
grance of holy dev-otion — and when the eyes of infinite 
purity rested upon the scene with the same complacen- 
cy as now they do upon the holy heavens. But it is 
not so now. The destroyer has been here, and by 
malicious artifice has persuaded man to revolt from his 
Maker., And mae, having renounced his allegiance to 
God, has utterly divested himself of His image, that 
he may not even appear to be His subject, and he has 
sought utterly to efface every vestige of the divine im- 
press left on the workmanship of his hands. Every 
relic of loyalty to the Most High has become odious 
in his sight, and is trampled contemptuously beneath 
his feet. He hates to think of God, and strives to 
banish the knowledge of Him from his mind and from 
the w^orld, and positively denies that the world is the 
production of His skill, and even doubts the existence 
of such a supreme Creator and King. The abodes of 
men. destitute of the knowledge of God, instead of 
being filled with prayer, praise, love, joy, peace, long- 



The claims of the JMissionary cause. 105 

suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, tennperance, 
faith, are filled with the works of the flesh, adultery, 
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witch- 
craft, hatred, variance, eniulation, wrath, strife, sedi- 
tions, heresies, env'yings, murders, drunkenness, rev- 
ellings. Or, in the language of Paul, ^vhen describ- 
ing^he heathen, they are filled with unrighteousness, 
covetousness, maliciousness, full of env^y, debate, de- 
ceit, malignity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, 
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, 
disobedient to parents, without understanding, cove- 
nant-breakers, without natural aff^ection, implacable, 
unmerciful. A broad mantle of darkness has been 
spread over all flesh, and in that darkness, vrhere not 
dissipated by the light that shineth from above, the 
most loathsome, odious, and abominable deeds have 
been, without fear or shame, cbn'stantly and universal- 
ly practised. 

Now, are not all these things diametrically opposed 
to the principles of the divine code ? If men were to 
rise up among us and go about secretly or openly to 
destroy every monument of our country's patriotism 
and improvement — all our works of art and usefulness, 
— aiming to subvert the foundations of our confedera- 
cy by corrupting the morals of the people, and thus 
preparing the way for anarchy or tyranny, all the in- 
dignation of our souls vrould be roused up against 
them. But by so doing, they would not act more 
fully in opposition to the laws of the land, than man- 
kind have acted in opposition to the divine law^s, in 
renouncinof God as their Sovereis:n, and in defacino; 
the beauty of His handy works, w^hile they have sub- 
stituted as objects of the heart's adoration those idol 
deities whose highest praise is treachery, lust, and 
blood. 

But, although the world has revolted from the gov- 
ernment of God, and has long been in a state of the 
most unreasonable and unprovoked rebellion, yet we 



106 The claims of the Missionary cause. 

do not conceive that He has lost any part of his title 
to this portion of his dominions because of its way- 
wardness and guilt. And though for a long period he 
has neglected to reconquer and recover this rebellious 
province to dutiful obedience, yet he has not relin- 
quished his right to it. He has all this while been 
giving man an opportunity to try what he can do wth- 
out God, when left to his own unassisted reason, and 
choosing the suggestions of satan in preference to the 
counsel and guidance of heavenly wisdom. But he 
has an undisputed right to the ob*<3dience of all the 
world, and he is able to bring it again under his right- 
eous authority. He can, if he please, cast down to 
the earth, and crumble into dust, all the gods of the 
heathen, and utterly exterminate fsom the world every 
species of idolatry, that the passions and appetites of 
men may no longer be inflamed thereby, nor knowl- 
edge eclipsed, nor intellect fettered, nor conscience 
paralyzed. By pouring the splendors of the Sun of 
Righteousness into -the dark places of the earth, he can 
expose in all its naked unseemliness, and shame the 
imposture by which millions of mortals are held in 
ruthless vassalage, that is most tormenting to man, aiid 
that wars audaciously with heaven. If kings and 
judge's of the earth take counsel together against the 
Lord, to stop the march of civil and religious liberty, 
and to prevent the coming of the kingdom of Christ, 
they may by the Providence of Him who is above 
them all, be driven away into inglorious exile, or even 
condemned to perish from the way when His wrath 
is kindled but a little. Corrupted Christianity^ the 
most powerful instrument wdiich satan has brought to 
bear in opposition to the Saviour and his followers, 
after having shed rivers of Christian blood and spread 
a long and dismal night over some of the fairest por- 
tions of the earth, shall yet be destroyed by Him 
whose name is Wonderful, and whose vesture is dip- 
ped in blood. The Lord has not so relinquished his 



The claims of the Missionary cause. 107 

claims to the world, but he has a right to manage its 
concerns as he please, and to adopt his own method 
for recovering it back to humble allegiance. By 
causing his word to be circulated, and the light of 
truth to diffuse its radiance, he may send abroad over 
the earth a moral influence which sliall restrain vice, 
and encourage virtue ; and by imparting the renovat- 
ing and sanctifying influences of the Spirit he may 
subdue the hearts of the nations to a cheerful and cor- 
dial obedience. By purifying the^fountains whence 
vice and crim.e, in all their sickening, odious forms 
proceed, he can cause the works of piety to abound. 
By thus renovating the earth, creating all things new, 
the Lord can and will restore the ancient order of 
things. He will cause his name every where to be 
recorded, and his worship to be .estabhshed, and his 
name adored in simplicity of heart. He will re-im- 
press his image upon the heart of man ; and from ev- 
ery dweller on the earth shall be heard ascriptions of 
praise and glory and honor to him that sitteth on t^ie 
throne. The race of man shall then be as. much dis- 
tinguished for peace and purity and joy, as it now is 
for contention, defilement and sorrow. 

The means for effecting this moral renovation is 
^'the glorious gospel of the blessed God,"*^ Hence 
the Redeemer has commanded his servants to go into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 
They are his ambassadors to this rebelhous province 
of his empire. In this sacred volume they have all 
their instructions. The will of their Soveriegn is 
here expressed — the method he has devised to re- 
conquer the human race is here fully revealed — the 
manner in which they are to return to their offended 
Lord is here clearly described — the inducements here 
held out for them to return are numerous and exceed- 
ingly encouraging — the consequences of rejecting 
such overtures of mercy are faithfully stated — and the 
compassion and forbearance of Heaven towards the 



108 The claims of the Missionary cause, 

guilty while persisting in their neglect of the great sal- 
vation, are exhibited in a. strong and affecting light. 
All these considerations are the ambassadors of Christ 
to exhibit and ex-plain and enforce. And they are not 
to do it merely once, and then give up the matter, if 
unsuccessful ; but they are to go again and again — and 
their whole hfe-time is to be spent in expostulating 
with sinners, in exhorting, persuading, entreating and 
beseeching them, by the mercy of God, by the suf- 
ferings and death of Jesus, by the hope of eternal life, 
and by the fear ol endless ruin, to renounce the service 
of sin and satarx, and become the humble., believing, 
obedient subjects of Jesus Christ. 

The ministers of truth are also represented as sol- 
diers sent forth bj: the Captain of our salvation, into 
the rebellious world, by spiritual weapons, to subdue 
it to the obedience* of the faith. They are to attack 
every strong hold of the enemy— to aim at the subver- 
sion and utter destruction of the dark kingdom of sa- 
tan estabhshed in falsehood, ignorance, lust and blood. 
They are to summon all the enemies of their Lord to 
submit to him who is King in Zion. The truths of 
revelation are the weapons which they are ta employ 
in this holy warfare, and by which they are to achieve 
their bloodless victories. 'And as when the apostles 
went forth and preached every where, the Lord w^ork- 
ing with them and confirming the w^ord with signs fol- 
lowing, so the Lord has promised to be with his ser- 
vants even to the end of the world — to make them vic- 
torious, causing them always to triumph, and render- 
ing their word the power of God unto salvation to all 
them that beheve. By such means in the hands of 
such agents, will the Saviour dispossess the usurper 
of his throne and kingdom in the hearts of men, and 
regain the world to affectionate loyalty, and establish 
over the whole earth the mild^ and peaceful, and spir- 
itual reign of his own benignity and grace. 

Can any reason be assigned why these servants 
should not obey — why they should not go forth zeal- 



The claims of the Missionary cause. 109 

Cusly to this warfare? Or, why the Lord Jesus should 
not bring the human family into subjection to himself ? 
Or, w^hy he should not employ his servants and fol- 
lowers to execute this glorious purpose of his grace? 
Kings and all sovereigns of the earth send their am- 
bassadors to negotiate with whom they will^ — and they 
send forth their armies to retake revolted provinces, 
and recover captured subjects. Why may not the 
King of kings and Lord of lords act with the same free- 
dom and authority ? When he bids his ministers to go 
and beseech all men to be reconciled to God, why 
should they not go ? When he says to his soldiers, 
" Gird on your armor, and go forth to the conquest of 
of a revolted v^orld," why should he not be obeyed? 
There is no commandment more explicit or more 
obligatory than the one in my text. It is not more 
evident that men ought to repent of sin and love 
and serve the Lord, than that the gospel should be 
every where preached, and that some of the Christian 
host should perform the service. 

But at whose charge shall these ambassadors and 
soldiers of the Saviour go? You will say at the charge 
of the King who sends them. But will he furnish 
provision by a constant miracle, or will he derive the 
provision from the resources of his subjects? Is it not 
the duty of Christ's kingdom to feed and clothe the 
men who are employed in pubhc, toilsome, self-deny- 
ing service? Christ has made it their duty, and the 
omission to do it is positive disobedience. Paul, 
when he first went to Thessalonica to preach the gos- 
pel, received pecuniary aid from the Church at Phi- 
lippi, which but a short time before he had estabhshed. 
Again at Rome he received similar aid from the same 
Church. Is not then the practice of the present age, 
of the churches' contributing to the support of Mis- 
sionaries, the same as that of the primitive and apos- 
tolic churches. The Apostles did indeed labor fre- 
quently with their own hands to procure a livelihood ; 
10 



110 The claims of the Missionary cause, 

but as if they were anxious that this fact should not be 
quoted as an objection to general rule, they mention 
the reasons of temporary expediency which induced 
them to pursue that course. But circumstances have 
altered immensely since that period, and the cases are 
now few indeed where similar exceptions to the gen- 
eral rule would be admissible. 

It appears to me, my brethren and friends, that we 
have not hitherto viewed this cause in its proper light. 
We err in considering all that we do towards sending 
Missionaries and ihe Bible among the heathen, as spe- 
cial benevolence. Now is it an act of charity^ or of al- 
legiance to Jesus Christy to aid in extending the king- 
dom of our Master ? Has the Creator of man no 
other claims on our influence and obedience, than those 
which our benevolence may choose to allow and satis- 
fy ? Are his claims no better founded, than are those 
of the unknown and forlorn stranger, whom distress or 
misfortune may bring to our door ? Has the Redeem- 
er no title to that which he has redeemed from eternal 
wo^ by the shedding of his own blood, and the renew- 
ing of his Holy Spirit, except so far as he can erect 
it on the charitable disposition of the heart ? Must the 
King of Zion appear among his subjects as a suppli- 
ant, and seek to obtain the means of carrying forward 
his gracious work, by appealing to their sympathies, 
and calling for charitable donations ? Must he, whose 
is the earth and the fulness thereof, be dependant on 
the benevolence of his stewards ? When your ser- 
vants bring forth from the abundance of your store- 
house, and set before you, do you receive it as an alms 
from them ? 

The missionary cause appeals not merely to your 
benevolence, but to your obligations of allegiance to 
the Prince of peace. Its claims are founded, not only 
on good will to man, but on submission and loyalty to 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is purposed in heaven that the way of the Lord 
shall be known upon earth, and his saving health among 



The claims of the Missionary cause. 111 

all nations. All the means sufficient to the execution 
of this purpose, are deposited in the hands of the 
Church, that she may have the labor, and enjoy the 
honor of being the instrument of enlarging and extend- 
ing the kingdom of the Messiah. And the vision now 
tarrieth, only that the people of the L§rd may faith- 
fully use these means, and properly employ this power, 
in endeavoring to bring the world under the influence 
of the gospel. As soon as this is done, what the proph- 
ets beheld in vision, shall be seen as a reality, by the 
dwellers upon earth. A sufficient pledge of this ap- 
pears in the success which has attended the labors of 
evangelical missionaries. And if there now remains 
any question whether the kingdoms of this world shall 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, it is 
this : Will the followers of Christ properly employ 
their whole influence, physical, intellectual, and moral 
in efforts to make known his name and grace to a per- 
ishing world ? Or, will they act the part of unjust 
stewards, and appropriate to their own selfish and sin- 
ful purposes that which should be sacred to the Lord 
and to his glorious cause ? 

There is evidently a great lack of loyalty in the 
Messiah's subjects. Else why are they not as ready 
to render unto him the things that are his, as to render 
to Cesar the things that are Cesar's ? When the rulers 
of the earth want men or money to achieve their enter- 
prises, to defend their states, or to extend their con- 
quests into other regions, if men and money exist in 
their dominions, they are easily obtained. But when 
the Lord of lords, who alone has a just right to extend 
his empire to the utmost limits, would enlarge his ter- 
ritories, multiply his conquests, and gloriously subdue 
his enemies, though there be men and means in abun- 
dance in his kingdom, yet but a few of the former 
volunteer, and but a trifling amount of the latter is 
rendered up to his demand. Christians must show 
jiiore decided marks of attachment to Chiist, morj© 



112 The claims of the Missionary cause. 

substantial proofs of allegiance to him, and more une- 
quiv^ocal evidence that they feel themselves, with all 
they possess, to be the Lord's before that time shall 
come when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
whole earth. 

Li the midst of Zion has the Lord Jesus opened a 
fountain of livmg waters, and he has commanded her 
citizens to see to it that streams therefrom should go 
forth and meander through all parts of the dry and 
thirsty world, till its entire population should be bless- 
ed with the rich and copious refreshment. His Church 
he has made the light of the world — ^the dispenser of 
the light of life to the dark and benighted regions of the 
earth. Shall this light be concealed and withheld 
from enlightening the footsteps, and guiding the course 
of travellers to eternity — or shall it be held up to the 
lost millions of the earth to show them the way to hap- 
piness and God ? 

In the midst of his vineyard the Lord has planted 
the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations 
— and the dressers of the vineyard he has commanded 
to distribute those leaves, that the moral and mortal 
maladies of men may be healed. Shall the universal 
remedy be sent forth, or shall men every where be left 
to die forever ? 

My brethren, here is a great work for the Church of 
Christ to do. Shall it be done ? Will you do your 
part ? Will you labor and pray and deny yourselves 
and strive earnestly that the world may be saved ? 
God our Saviour commands you to do your duty, and 
receive the. reward. '' Be thou faithful unto deaths 
and I will give thee a crown of life. ^'^ 



SERMON XI. 



Some of the moral advantages of Poverty, 

Mark xiv: 7. For ye have the poor with you always, and 
whensoever ye will, ye may do them good.* 

Why is there so much poverty in the world ? He 
must be indeed a stranger among his race, who has 
not seen it in various and appalling forms. It is no 
fiction of the poets, but a real and visible attendant 
upon man. It is confined to no age or place. It 
visited human abodes before the flood, and down 
through all succeeding time has never forsaken the 
earth. It is not fastidious in selecting the places of 
its residence. In the thinly populated country our 
eyes often meet its loathsome insignia. In the thriv- 
ing village, where external appearances indicate gen- 
eral ease, contentment and felicity, there dwells in 
some obscure, weather-beaten cottage, the lonely 
widow bending beneath the united pressure of sorrow, 
penury and age — or the man of years and misfortune, 
surviving his last child, and, surrounded by a genera- 
tion that know him not, dependant for every thing on 
a kindness which it is out of his power to conciliate. 
In the town and in the city also there are many dark 
and dismal receptacles of misery. In their putrid 
lanes many of the sons and daughters of poverty dwell 
in ragged wretchedness, often agonized with pain, 
faint with hunger, trembling with cold, in their frail and 

*Preached before a Charitable Society. 
10^ 



114 Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 

unsheltering tenements. Go where you will — live 
where you will — the subjects of want are not far from 
you — they are often in your path and at your door, . 
clad in the livery of wo, and wearing the marks of a 
condition pitiable enough to move every sensibility of 
the heart. 

The subjects of poverty are of all ages. Multitudes 
of children are such by inheritance — youth and the 
middle-aged are often unable to shake off her yoke, 
while the aged and decrepid sink, without a struggle, 
into her sickening embrace. In her relentless tyranny 
she spares not the daughters of beauty and delicate- 
ness ; and often the man of the firmest nerve and 
strongest muscle, is made to bow to her will. 

Such is the state of things where kind heaven most 
equally and bountifully bestows its blessings. Yes, 
in the best and happiest portions of the best and hap- 
piest land. Here J in the midst of abundance — ^in this 
home of the wretched, this retreat of the miserable 
from every clime,' are such scenes of penury and 
suffering witnessed. Why is it so ? 

Will you tell me that improvidence, vice, indolence, 
dissipation and prodigality have caused the whole of 
this? They have doubtless occasioned a large propor- 
tion of the evil, for they lead in the direct road to 
poverty and misery, and of this the vicious and the 
indolent and the dissipated are often warned in the 
early part of their career. But will these causes ac- 
count for every case of destitution ? Will you say that 
the poor of your acquaintance, and among your kindred 
all came to their poverty in some one of these ways? 
Can you go and make the same declaration to them, 
and not feel that you accuse at least some of them 
falsely? Can you not say of one, '' this poor man has 
labored hard and worn himself out by severe service ; 
but constant sickness in his family has brought him 
where you now see him?" Of another, ''he has 
himself been always the subject of physical infirmity?" 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty, 115 

Of a third, ''this man was once in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, but by a combination of unforeseen and 
unavoidable calamities, he has been reduced to an 
extremity from which he is unable to recover?" Or, 
" this poor widow once had a kind and industrious 
husband who supported his family in comfoft and rep- 
utation — but the providence of God removed him into 
eternity, and left her and her helpless children without 
the means of a livelihood, and sh^ has since struggled 
hard against the encroachments of pinching want and 
pining sickness?" Will you not admit that among all 
the poor there are some who are as prudent, as virtu- 
ous, as active, as enterprising, and as economical as 
yourselves? Do all these traits of character belong to 
the affluent as their exclusive property? Is there 
among the wealthy no want of foresight or industry? 
Are no dissipation, folly and wastefulness to be found 
in their habitations, or in their plans and methods of 
business ? 

Are there then no such persons as the virtuous poor? 
None whose load of poverty is not increased by the 
reflection that it was all occasioned by their own follies 
or crimes? There are doubtless many, who, in the 
midst of the keenest want, cannot reproach themselves 
for it — many who are justified in looking upon their 
destitution as the result of providential circumstances 
which they could not foresee or prevent. 

May I not, then, be permitted to inquire whether 
this state of poverty and consequent distress which we 
have contemplated, does not exist by the special design 
of God ? Whether he does not order it thus that the 
present may be a more suitable and perfect state of 
trial for his intelligent creatures ? 

I may not be able, perhaps, to convince you all of 
the correctness of such a theory ; but I will submit for 
your consideration a few arguments in its favor. In 
speaking of the advantages of poverty, I wish not to be 
considered as encouraging indolence, vice and waste in 



116 Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 

order to effect it, but as suggesting some reasons why 
we should be subnnissive to the will of heaven as it re- 
gards the unequal distribution of earthly treasures. 

1. You will all agree with me that true benevolence 
is one of the loveliest attributes of the human charac- 
ter. I speak not of that benevolence which has been 
the burden of every poet's song, and of every roman- 
tic tale — displaying itself only in elegant literature, 
which is embellished by all the enchantments of im- 
agery and eloquence, converting grief into a luxury, 
and resolving all kindness into sympathy — nor of that 
benevolence which lies only in the sensibilities, and is 
more easily moved by scenes of fictitious than of real 
distress, and which expends itself in pity and tears 
without affording any substantial relief. I speak not of 
a benevolence that enervates the understanding, and 
corrupts the heart, and nourishes a sickly sensibility of 
soul v;hich makes its possessor wretched without bene- 
fitting those over whom it sheds its tears of useless 
commiseration. Nor do I speak of that benevolence 
which is often met with in real life — which feeds and 
clothes its objects, provides them with comfortable 
tenements, aims to mitigate their bodily w^oes, and 
holding out to them a kind, supporting hand, leads 
them gently down to the grave — but does no more. I 
do indeed^pprove of this so far as it reaches, and wish 
it was far more general. But to be worthy of the 
name of benevolence^ it must go still farther. It must 
take in the fact of man's immortality, and furnish to its 
objects the means of enjoying '' the Uving bread ivhich 
came down from heaven,"^^ It must direct them to the 
attainment of that '' building, of God^^^ that '' house 
not made ivith hands., eternal in the heavens.'''^ It must 
bring to their aid that Physician who heals the body as 
well as the soul. It must pour the light of religion 
into the dark recesses of their hearts, and show itself 
to resemble the benevolence of him who said, '^ My 
hearfs desire and prayer to God for Israel is^ that they 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 117 

might be savecL'^^ This is true benevolence in its love- 
liest and divdnest form. 

Nevertheless, that benevolence which sets not its 
aim so high — which delivers the poor that cry and the 
fatherless and him that hath none to help him — which 
is eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, ^nd a father 
to the poor — which calls forth blessings from them 
that are ready to perish, and songs of joy from the 
widow's heart — this is by no means to be discouraged. 
The world cannot dispense with it where there is so 
little that is better. 

Now the fact that poetry and romance have so made 
benevolence the theme of their song and tale, evinces 
that there is something in benevolence that commands 
admiration — something that exalts and adorns the hu- 
man character. But this is not its highest praise. The 
man of mighty genius — -the statesman, who, with stea- 
dy and skilful hand can manage the destinies of a na- 
tion — the philosopher, who can read from nature^s 
book her laws — the orator, who can hold our minds in 
captivity by a simple and artless eloquence, we all 
agree to admire. But the man who goes in quest of 
the sons and daughters of poverty, and is not afraid or 
ashamed to visit them in their gloomy, neglected 
abodes, and who, having found them, gives food to 
the hungry, and clothing to the naked, and education 
to the ignorant — such a man is more sincerely beloved 
and more durably embalmed in the affections of the 
virtuous, than those who far outshine him in the splen- 
dors of their genius. 

But it is not alone nor chiefly by men that benevo- 
lence is esteemed as the lovelfest attribute of charac- 
ter. We doubt not, if those exalted intelligences of 
the world above us, whose might and knowledge, and 
glory far excel all human greatness and attainments, 
were to dwell among men, but they would be seen 
searching out the habitations of the poor and the 
afflicted, rather than of wealth and grandeur, — visiting 



118 Some of the moral advantages of poverty, 

and ministering to the widow and the fatherless, rather 
than shining in courts and receiving the applauses of 
the multitude. Though capable of teaching our ora- 
tors eloquence, and our philosophers science, and our 
senators wisdom, and kings how ta rule, yet they 
w^ould esteem it more truly great and honorable, in 
imitation of Him whom they are commanded to wor- 
ship, to go about doing good. *And as more of the 
Godhead was exhibited to the universe in the volunta- 
ry condescension, humility and death of the Son of 
God than in all the work of creation, so an humble and 
active benevolence to the poor and the wretched 
^'ould be more truly great and glorious, than the more 
splendid manifestations of skill and power. 

To the attainment and exercise of this noble attri- 
bute of character, the existing state of poverty and hs 
attendant wretchedness, are highly conducive if not 
absolutely necessary. We should not know that we 
possessed the principle of benevolence, unless these 
evils were occasionally presented before us to try the 
nature of our feelings — and w^e should hardly form the 
habit of doing good, unless the necessities of others 
w^ere such as to furnish us with frequent opportunities 
for executing acts of kindness. The sight of the suf- 
fering poor excites, or is designed to excite our com- 
miseration. We listen to their tale of wo, and if we 
have any sympathetic feehngs, they w^ill surely be 
awakened, and we shall be stimulated to extend the 
needed relief — and in the assurance that relief is afford- 
ed, the heart finds a rich gratification. The very ex- 
ercise of benevolence^ brings along with it a felicity 
which is its own reward. But once remove all these 
suffering objects away from our sight, or to such a dis- 
tance that they cannot act upon the mind, and I see not 
but the human character would include far less than 
it HOW does of this excellent trait. Will you tell me 
that the spirits in heaven are benevolent without such 
discipline^ and that therefore man might be ? If man 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 119 

were holy, instead of being supremely selfish, then 
doubtless he would be benevolent. But now that he 
is so completely devoted to self, he needs the constant 
excitement of scenes of suffering and wretchedness to 
stimulate him to generous deeds. Besides, even the 
angels are not always so far from earth as never to wit- 
ness the woes and wants of our race — and it is not im- 
possible that their principles and habits of benevolence 
are greatly improved and strengthened by the repeated 
opportunities for their exercise. 

I cannot, therefore, doubt that God has so arranged 
these varied conditions of human existence, as to ren- 
der the present state a fitter theatre for our moral dis- 
cipline. 

I know there is some danger of being imposed upon, 
and of having our purest benevolence fail of its purpose 
by being yielded to the most clamorous importunity, 
rather than to the greatest and most deserving neces- 
sity. One individual, by surrendering himself to eve- 
ry impulse of benevolent feeling, may often distribute 
favor to very unworthy objects, while another, fearing 
lest he should bestow his bounty where it is neither 
needed nor deserved, shuts his heart against every ap- 
peal and does nothing. But the cases are few where 
we cannot in some way ascertain the character of the 
applicants, and qualify ourselves to judge correctly as 
to the nature and extent of their wants. And this is 
an essential part of true benevolence, to make ourselves 
intimately acquainted with the poor, the causes of their 
poverty, their present disabihties, and their actual ne- 
cessities. Such an inquest would have a powerful 
moral effect on the heart, and would stimulate us to 
provide the means of relief required. The mind wull 
feel deeply, and we shall find it a pleasure to forego 
some of the luxuries of living, and -to deny ourselves 
in various ways, that we may communicate comfort 
to others. The joy of the miser in counting over his 
hoarded treasure is misery itself compared with the 



120 Some of the moral advantages of poverty, 

satisfaction of him who can from principle suffer per* 
sonal discomfort for the sake of relieving the wants of 
the wretched. The declaration of the Lord Jesus is 
indisputably true, that ''it is more blessed to give than 
to receive. '^^ 

2. I would also inquire whether the existing pov- 
erty may not be designed, not only to remind us of 
our dependance on God, especially to keep alive 
•within us a constant sense of this dependance. 

When, leaving our own abodes where health and 
plenty smile, we enter the dweUings of the unfortunate 
and afflicted poor, the scenes of penury and distress 
which every where meet our vision, are well calcu- 
lated to remind us of the vast difference between their 
condition and ours, and to teach us to whom we are 
indebted for the distinction which we enjoy. The 
rich man, who wants nothing that can gratify " the lust 
of the fleshy the lust of the cj/e, and the pride of life^^^ 
when he visits a discarded son of fortune, who, per- 
haps, was the companion of his childhood, is more 
likely to reflect on the kindness of Providence to him- 
self, than when he moves only among the gay and the 
affluent. The sight of those wants and woes which 
no foresight could have prevented, will teach him not 
to boast, but to attribute his own freedom from these 
evils wholly to the hand of a sovereign God. He 
may there learn that the same Providence which has 
so arranged things as they are, can easily reverse the 
scene and make him and the poor man change places 
and conditions. 

As by the cases of mortality frequently occurring 
around us, we are often reminded of the irreversible 
decree, " dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return^^ 
— so, by the constant appearance of cases of poverty 
and distress, we aile ever taught that the earth is " the 
Lord^s and the fulness thereof ^^ — and that he giveth 
to man to use and enjoy only according to his own 
sovereign will and pleasure. 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 121 

3. The Divine claims to our love and gratitude are 
presented in a stronger light by the order of things 
now existing in reference to riches and poverty. 

Did we know nothing of the feelings peculiar to pa- 
rents and to children, the parental regard of God for his 
people would not appear so striking and affecting to us 
as they now do ; nor would his claims on the affection, 
reverence and obedience of those whom he owns as 
his children, be so readily acknowledged and so forci- 
bly felt as they now are. By assuming the relation of 
a father to his people, he exhibits himself to them in 
the most tender and endearing character, and at the 
same time makes their duty to him, to love and honor 
and obey him appear most reasonable and just. 

Were we never in the habit of extending relief to 
others, or of receiving it from them, in times of want 
and distress, we should be strangers to the joy of grat- 
itude, as well as to the obligations which are due to 
benefactors, and should therefore have nothing in our 
own experience fitted to teach us how greatly we are 
indebted to the beneficence of our Benefactor in heav- 
en. Now we know it is reasonable and highly befit- 
ting that we should be grateful to him who visits us in 
our distress in order to reheve us. Can we acknowl- 
edge this, and not feel and admit the reasonableness 
of the divine requisition that in every thing we should 
give thanks to God, who supphes our daily w^ants, and 
whose grace provides us free, abundant and eternal 
salvation ? 

4. A state of poverty is in some respects favorable 
to piety. 

It is free not only from the temptations which beset 
the afiJuent — not only from the seductions of fashion 
and folly, pleasure and dissipation- — not only from the 
cares, anxieties, perplexities and disappointments al- 
ways attendant upon large business, — but it is happily 
fitted to lead a pious mind to reflect much on God's 
care for his people, and his goodness towards the poor 
11 



122 Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 

and destitute. When the rich man finds his schemes 
successful, and his treasures increasing, he is not apt to 
feel so grateful to the Author of his prosperity, as the 
poor man when he has his real wants providentially 
supplied. Yes, the infirm cottager, when furnished 
by the beneficence of others with necessary food and 
clothing in the hour of his extremity, will often render 
more praise to God, than the wealthy merchant when 
his ship comes in clearing him his thousands. The 
reason is evident. In the one case real^ in the other 
case only imaginary wants are supplied. The pious 
poor, feeling their wants, and aware of their entire de- 
pendance, receive every favor with a grateful heart, 
and a lively sense of the divine mercy. Viewing their 
daily bread as coming from the hand of God, he is led 
to reflect upon the far greater mercy of God in fur- 
nishing for his soul that bread of life which came down 
from heaven. Hence.it not unfrequently happens that 
the poorest Christian is the most thankful, contented 
and happy. He often exhibits most of the disposition 
of the gospel, the meekness and mildness of the lamb, 
and the brightest reflection of the Saviour's image. In 
his obscure tenement, even confined on a bed of sick- 
ness, he is often incomparably happier than the mul- 
titude by whom he is unnoticed and despised. 

^' The poor ye have ivith you ahoays,'^'^ Not as an 
event of chance, but of design and contrivance. The 
God of heaven and earth has so ordered it, that we 
might be often and constantly reminded that our reli- 
ance should be on him alone, and that to him the live- 
liest gratitude of our hearts should be daily offered. 
Not merely as the fruit and punishment of imprudence, 
slothfulness, dissipation and crime — though I acknowl- 
edge these are in many instances the immediate cau- 
ses — but as the result of a wise providence uhich 
controls the minutest affairs of mortals, as well as the 
mighty concerns of empires — which often elevates 
him who is destitute of merit to a high point in afHu- 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty. 123 

ence and honor, and depresses another of superior vir- 
tue into the vale of obscurity and suffering. 

'' The poor ye have icith you always,'''^ Not as an 
ingredient thrown into the cup of worldly bliss merely 
for the purpose of. embittering it — not as a necessary 
evil designed to humble and thus to benefit the poor 
exclusively — but as a sanative to the disease of world- 
liness — as a corrective of the false estimates of worldly 
grandeur and glory- — as an exciting cause of sympathy 
and commiseration. Instead of poverty being design- 
ed simply for the correction and punishment of the 
poor themselves, it is an unspeakable advantage to all 
others to have the poor always with them. It is an 
arrangement without which we could no more cherish 
the feelings, or cultivate the habit of benevolence, than 
a man could exercise courage where there is no dan- 
ger, or patience where there is no affliction, or a for- 
giving spirit where there is nothing to be forgiven. 
Here our God has placed us in a school of discipline, 
where he designs we should cultivate those moral dis- 
positions which he requires as a fitness for his own 
most glorious abode. He has furnished us with aU 
necessary means and facilities for acquiring the requi- 
site character, and surrounded us with objects and 
inducements powerfully exciting us to use the means 
of improvement. But to avail yourselves of the ben- 
efits of this salutary discipline, you are not to close 
your ears against the cry of the needy, nor your eye 
upon the sight of the suffering poor, nor to harden 
your hearts against the affecting appeals which their 
wretchedness makes to your sympathy and compas- 
sion. The benevolent feelings of your hearts, when 
moved by the unhappy condition of others, must be 
gratified or they will soon become extinct, and noth- 
ing be left but a contracted selfishness produced by a 
continual addictedness to the pursuits of avarice and 
ambition. You appropriate cheerfully a portion of 
your time and of your worldly substance to the im- 



124 Some of the moral advantages of poverty, 

provement and refinement of your minds. We call 
upon you in like manner to devote some portion of 
your time, and some portion of your property in re- 
lieving the distresses of the poor, that so you may 
acquire and cultivate one of the loveliest Attributes of 
moral excellence. We ask you not to surrender your 
property to useless purposes, but to convert it into 
education, food, clothing, medicine, according to the 
necessities of your needy fellow-creatures. In thus 
relieving their distresses and promoting their welfare, 
you will, at an easy rate, purchase their sincerest grat- 
itude and their most fervent prayers. You will be 
fulfilling the designs of your adorable Maker in sur- 
rounding you with the objects of want, and thus ac- 
quiring a character resembling his own, on which his 
eye will rest with peculiar approbation. Thus do, and 
the awful reflection of having lived in vain will not tor- 
ment you when arrived at the confines of eternity — 
nor will the sight of the poor whom you have neglect- 
ed and despised in their obscurity, fill you with dis- 
may and shame, should you see them hereafter united 
to their Lord, covered with glory, and honored with a 
seat at his right hand. For you must remember that 
the Lord has exhibited himself as the patron of the 
poor and needy, and that he selects for the most part, 
as the subjects of his grace, the poor of this world, 
rich in faith. 

To assist the industrious poor, by giving them em- 
ployment, to give instruction to their children, and to 
assist gratuitously with comfortable raiment those who 
by age or sickness are incapacitated to procure it for 
themselves, are anfong the praiseworthy objects of the 
charitable Society in whose behalf I this evening ad- 
dress yoii. The very statement of its objects is abun- 
dant commendation of it to every generous feeling of 
the heart. The members of this Society, by the ob- 
servation and experience of years, have learned the 
way that leads to the abodes of poverty and distress — 



Some of the moral advantages of poverty, 125 

have learned to discriminate between real and pretend- 
ed want — ^between the meritorious and the undeserv- 
ing — and have qualified themselves to distribute pru- 
dently whatever comes into their hands. They have 
a register of the poor, the sick and the aged that nee'd 
assistance. They have inured themselves to scenes 
of wretchedness, and will not shrink from inspecting 
them. They are ready promptly to perform a work 
which would disgust the taste and delicacy of such as 
are unaccustomed to the service. And now, at the 
approach of winter, they again appeal to you, their fel- 
low-citizens, to replenish their treasury. They have 
repeatedly tried your UberaUty, and never tried it in 
vain. 



11* 



SERMOjV XII. 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 
2 Peter m: 11. What manner of persons ought ye to be ? 

I may be allowed, without doing any injustice to 
the sacred scriptures, to propose this question with 
reference to a subject differing, in some respects, 
from that which prompted the apostle to propose it to 
the brethren whom he addressed. What manner of 
persons does the present state of the Christian Churchy 
and of the ivorld^ require that Christians should be ? 

It must, at once, appear obvious to all, that the 
present character of Christians is but poorly adapted 
to the exigencies of the age of persecutions in which 
the apostles lived — ^an age when the profession of the 
name of Christ was deemed a sufficient ground for 
civil prosecutions, and imprisonment, and ignominious 
death — an age when the most virtuous habits, and 
amiable manners, and beneficent activity furnished no 
security against insult, and outrageous cruelty. There 
is not at present that invincible attachment to the name 
of Christ crucified— that unquenchable love of the 
truth — that undaunted fortitude, coupled with lamb- 
like meekness — ^that crucifixion to the world and the 
things which are in the world— that noble contempt of 
reproach and suffering for the Saviour's sake, which 
such an age required. 

Equally obvious is it, that the character exhibited 
by the great mass of professed protestant Christians, 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 127 

from the decline of the reformation, till within some 
twenty years of the present period, would be unsuited 
to the state of things and to the wants of mankind in 
the present age. It is true there were some during 
this period whose names deservedly stand high in the 
records of piety and Christian enterprise — men, in 
whose bosoms burned the purest flame of devotion, 
and whose energies were expended in the service of 
the Redeemer — men who counted not their hves dear 
unto themselves, and whose pious efforts still edify and 
bless the Church of God. But such were not the great 
majority. The too general indifference then felt in 
reference to the conversion of the world — the notion 
then avowed by many, and practised upon by more, 
that the time had not come for such an enterprise, and 
that all effort in that direction would contravene the 
purposes of God — and the intolerant, persecuting 
spirit which in many places and to a great extent pre- 
vailed, would now receive immensely less countenance, 
and be found quite ill adapted to the demands of the 
present age. 

Thus it will be seen, that although the true spirit of 
the Christian character, and the requisitions and ten- 
dencies of our holy religion are always the same, yet 
that different states of society and difTerent ages re- 
quire the special developement and cultivation of dif- 
ferent traits of this character: Out of new circum- 
stances and relations new duties arise. New modes 
of attacking the Church, and of displaying the opposi- 
tion of the world to the truth of the gospel, require new 
modes of repelling those attacks, and of defending that 
truth. 

It becomes, then, a proper subject for our serious 
consideration — ^' What manner ofpersons^^ do the ex- 
igencies of the present age require Christians to be 9 

1 . There is a necessity that they should be steadfast 
and immoveable in the truth. 

The prevalence of error and of principles radically 
infidel, requires this. In those places where the ffos- 



128 The demands of the present age upon Christians. 

pel is preached in its greatest simplicity, purity and 
richness, there still exists much error which borders 
closely on infidelity. True, it does not openly and 
boldly appear in its own native pecuHar garb, attack- 
ing furiously the bulwarks of our Zion, the impregna- 
ble fortresses of Christianity. It does not, with bra- 
zen front, send up its blasphemies against Him who 
sitteth on the throne. It does not openly aim to sow 
with thorns and briers the peaceful and pleasant paths 
of heavenly wisdom, nor to dry up and annihilate the 
fountains of divine consolation which the gospel has 
opened, nor to eradicate utterly from the Christian's 
bosom the good hope which the grace of God has there 
implanted. In this respect it differs from that infidel- 
ity which, -with profane and desolating strides, lately 
trampled on the temples and altars of the Christian re- 
ligion, and overspread half of Europe with moral dark- 
ness and death. It is a wary and hidden infidelity, 
fermenting and spreading Hke leaven through the mass 
of the population. It claims to be derived from the 
Bible ; it calls itself Christianity ; it presents itself to 
men in a garb congenial with the pride and selfishness 
of the natural heart ; it loves to expatiate on the amia- 
bleness of moral virtue, and the dignity of human na- 
ture ; it boasts of the candor and the liberality of its 
spirit ; it looks with cold and sneering contempt on 
what it terms the barrenness and contractedness of 
that which we regard as sacred truth ; it construes 
dissent from itself, and the honest behef of opposite 
principles into persecution, and from this draws an 
argument for its own truth and divine original ; it re- 
joices over the faults and foibles of those whom we 
regard as Christians, and ascribes them to the ineffi- 
ciency of their professed principles, and hence infers 
that those principles are wrong, but denies, in regard 
to itself, the applicability of the rule by which it judges 
others. It glories in its learning and refinement, and 
claims fellowship with the prophets and other holy 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 129 

men of God. Arguments which it cannot answer, it 
affects to consider as contemptible, and at the same 
time rests its confidence on arguments which have 
been a thousand times proved unscriptural and falla- 
cious — arguments that appeal most successfully to the 
selfish principles of unsanctified nature. In fine, while 
it perverts the precepts of the gospel from their true 
intent, it gathers about itself a charm, and a fascinating 
loveliness which shall make it seem divine. 

Christians, in all their worldly avocations and social 
intercourse come in contact with this spirit of error. 
And so pleasing is it to the flesh, so insinuating, so 
inviting in its external aspect, so congenial with the 
unrenewed spirit of man, that nothing but an ardent 
love for the truth, and an inflexible determination, at the 
hazard of all things, to relinquish nothing divine, can 
keep this evil from secretly stealing its way into their 
inmost hearts. 

A false notion of charity, intimately connected w^ith 
this species of infidehty and growing out of it, forms 
another consideration requiring of Christians an un- 
yielding steadfastness in the faith. The charity or love 
which the gospel requires seems to me to be this : — 
that Christians love one another for the truth, and for 
Christ's sake — that they love all who appear to possess 
the spirit and to bear the image of Christ — and that 
they cherish good will tow^ards all men, and seek to 
promote their present and future happiness. But the 
notion of charity prevalent with many is quite another 
thing. It requires us, not so much to love, as to ac- 
knowledge as Christians^ all who call them&elves such, 
whatever may be the principles of their religious faith, 
and even though they utterly deny what we consider 
as absolutely necessary to constitute a Christian. And 
because we firmly believe them to be deluded by a 
fatal error, and w^ill not so behe ourselves as to admit 
that they are built on the truth, w^e are charged with 
bigotry and uncharitableness. At the same time. 



130 The demands of the present age upon Christians, 

while they call us by hard names, and question the 
genuineness of our piety, they are loud in their praises 
of their own charity and liberality of sentiment. 

But, brethren, while we manifest an unyielding ad- 
herence to the truth, let it be purely for the truths and 
not for party's sake. And if the numbers which gath- 
er around the standard under which we delight to 
march, be far greater than in the days of our earlier 
history, let us not come short of those who have pre- 
ceded us in the same ranks, in a spirit of forbearance 
and free, unrestrained religious liberty. Let kindness 
and good-will, as becometh the gospel, characterize 
our whole conduct and deportment towards all rhen, 
but especially towards such as manifestly love our Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. '^ 

2. There are peculiar reasons why Christians in the 
present age should be intelligent. The various insti- 
tutions which, in our own times, have been established 
in order to open the sources of knowledge to all minds 
— to the infant of days and the man of years — to the 
rich and the poor — institutions calculated to raise the 
standard of common education and to afford extraor- 
dinary facilities for acquiring useful and practical infor- 
mation, are operating powerfully to make a reading, a 
thinking, and an intelligent generation. But this is not 
all. With the general information that is acquired, 
and the valuable knowledge that is widely diffused and 
rapidly spreading, there is produced, -very naturally in- 
deed, a spirit of free inquiry into all subjects with 
which the human mind can come in contact — a dispo- 
sition to investigate and search out the causes and rea- 
sons of things. This spirit approaches the laws and 
constitution of the country, the administration of the 
government, the affairs of commerce, and the manage- 
ment of all our public institutions, no less fearlessly 
and independently, than it does the most trivial trans- 
actions. But with its operation in politics, or any of 
the worldly interests of men I have nothing to do. In 



The demands of the present age upon Christians. 131 

religion^ this spirit may work much good or much 
evil according as it is directed. Wherever you turn 
at the present day you perceive its action. It distrusts 
in religion, whatever claims our credit, merely on the 
ground of its antiquity. Creeds and systems of faith 
which for centuries have been regarded with deference, 
and received implicitly, because drawn up and arrang- 
ed by venerable fathers, and learned and sound divines, 
it approaches without fear and dares to look at them 
with the eye of scrutiny. Technical phrases which, 
in explaining the doctrines of the Bible, have been, in 
other times, regarded with almost the reverence which 
the Karens paid to the venerable prayer-book, now are 
nearly set aside, except perhaps, by the enemies of 
truth, who use them to ridicule the faith of our fathers. 
Great names have lost much of their charm and influ- 
ence, and men call for something more than the views 
and sentiments of teachers and defenders of the faith 
in past ages. 

Such, brethren, is the spirit of the age in which we 
live. And we do not say that w^e regret it, or that we 
fear its effects on the cause of truth. But you must 
perceive in this fact .the necessity of intelligence in 
those w^ho embrace the truth. You must be able to 
explain to inquisitive minds the doctrines of the gos- 
pel without using those technicahties and antiquated 
phrases of former times which well nigh concealed 
from the common people the true meaning of those 
doctrines. The Bible must be so explained that men 
can understand it. Its duties must be made to appear 
reasonable, and its doctrines at least not contrary to 
reason. The minds of men now" would be much more 
readily disgusted with apparant absurdities and learned 
nonsense in religion, than they would some fifty or 
even thirty years ago. You ought therefore to be able 
to give a reason, not only for the hope that is in you, 
but also for the faith you profess, and to show from 
the w^ord of God that the doctrines which you em- 



132 The demands of the present age upon Christians. 

brace are there taught and supported by nothing less 
than divine authority. 

Another reason why Christians at the present day 
should be thoroughly acquainted with the Bible, is 
found in the fact, that the infidelity of which we have 
spoken, and which they have to combat and resist, is 
a learned infidelity, and pretends to derive its support 
from the Scriptures. It makes itself acquainted with 
the manners and customs, the laws and literature, the 
language and history of the nation to whom were first 
committed the oracles of truth, and thus strives to lay 
its foundation in a deep knowledge of the facts of the 
Sacred Volume. It shrinks not from Biblical inves- 
tigation, but from a boasted acquaintance with its 
idioms, and the usage of language to which the sacred 
writers were accustomed, it endeavors to explain every 
part of revelation' in accordance with its own precon- 
ceived and favorite theory. 

Unhappy would it be, ray brethren, for the cause 
of righteousness, if those who love not the truth should 
be better able to defend error from the Bible, than 
are the friends of truth to defend that truth. Unhappy, 
if through our ignorance, the Bible should be turned 
as a w^eapon not only against us, but against itself, and 
through the skill and cunning of others, be made to 
sustain rather than destroy destructive errors. Let 
us feel, then, that we owe it to ourselves, and more to 
our common and gracious Lord, to acquaint ourselves 
with his holy word — its form and its spirit — its pure 
and unrestrained interpretation, ►and its complete adapt- 
edness to the wants of man as a sinner. Let us feel 
that w^e ought to possess such knowledge of divine 
things as will make us valiant for the truth, and as will 
give us courage to meet in the open field of argument 
any opponent of that system of truth which w^e hold 
most dear, as '' the faith once delivered to the saints ^'''^ 

3. Christians, in order to meet the demands of the 
passing age, ought to be active and enterprising. 



The demands of the present age upon Christians. 133 

Probably at no period since Christianity obtained a 
permanent footing in civilized countries, have so many 
organized systems of means been in operation to prop- 
agate doctrines which we regard as contrary to the 
word of God, and utterly subversive of the fundamental 
principles of true religion, as at the present time. 
Error has, indeed, had its advocates in other ages ; 
but they have worked single-handed, without con- 
cert, without system, and consequently without much 
efficiency. But now the pulpit and the press, schools 
and colleges lend their influence in the support and the 
propagation of baneful error ; and in their manage- 
ment we perceive system, concert, and vigorous co- 
operation. And in some instances there are mani- 
fested an activity, a perseverance, and a liberality 
which ought to put true Christians to the blush for their 
indolence and indifference in a better cause. 

Now, to prevent error and the deadliest impiety 
from coming in like a flood, and gaining a triumph 
over our religious institutions, there is no civil power 
to be exercised, and we rejoice that there is none. 
No weapons but such as are of etherial temper can be 
wielded in the warfare against this dreaded and dread- 
ful foe. And we firmly believe that could the enemy 
be driven from the field by any other than spiritual 
weapons, the cause of truth would gain nothing there- 
by. Have Christians then nothing to do at such a 
time ? Must they fold their hands together, and stand 
still in order to see the salvation which God will work ? 
No, my brethren. The Israelites might not be inac- 
tive when to human view they could do nothing but 
rush into the sea, and apparently into the jaws of des- 
truction. If they could do no more than walk around 
the strong hold of their enemy, and blow their horns 
as they walked, they must not omit to do this. The 
apostles of our Lord were not to wait till heathen 
temples were demolished, their gods overthrown, their 
altars crumbled to dust, and the strongholds of pagan- 
12 



134 The demands of the present age upon Christians, ^ 

ism stormed by an invisible power, before they should 
go forth to establish every where the kingdom of their 
risen and ascended Saviour. The triumphs of truth 
have always been gained by the efforts and instrumen- 
tality of its friends. God works not without means. 
And in proportion to the vigilance, and activity, and 
enterprise, and zeal employed in the cause of error, 
should Christians be actively engaged in the promotion 
of truth. Let the pure influence of the gospel be 
made to counteract that of infidelity. Let the enter- 
prising spirit of the age be seen in the friends of Jesus, 
and be brought to bear in favor of his cause. Let 
well-directed, persevering, systematic efforts be made 
to roll back the turbid tide of error, by raising a 
counter tide of gospel truth to move over and fill the 
breadth of the land. Unless this be done, no tongue 
can tell the disasters that may ensue. 

But there is another consideration w^hich calls for 
untiring activity in the followers of the Redeemer. It 
is found in the grand enterprise which they have un- 
dertaken, of enlightening, and converting to the faith 
of the Son_ of God, the w^hole heathen world. The 
great company of the faithful on earth have undertaken, 
not indeed formally, but virtually — not by concert 
in each other's presence, but on their bended knees 
before God, the arduous work of making known the 
way of the Lord upon the earth, and his saving health 
among all nations. Their object is to put into the 
hands of every family over the whole globe the word 
of God in their own language. They mean, by the 
help of heaven, to pour light upon the darkened mass 
of human intellect, till the thick obscurity which en- 
velopes it, and the ignorance which enslaves it, and 
the superstition which prostrates it before deified forms 
of wood and stone, shall all vanish away like the 
darkness of night before the full splendors of the ris- 
ing sun. They will not regard their object as ac- 
complished till the nations of the earth shall beat their 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 135 

swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruri- 
ing-hooks, and the principles of the spirit of war be 
exploded, and the tree of peace spread her broad 
branches from sea to sea, and from the river to the 
ends of the earth. They design, by the diffusion of 
gospel truth, to render the darkest spots of the earth 
now most filled with cruelty, filthiness and brutality, 
more lovely and fair than the loveliest and fairest spots 
in ours the freest and happiest land. Their enter* 
prise will not be fully accomplished till the sun in his 
daily going forth beholds no people groaning under 
the oppression of tyranny — none tracking their way 
to the temples of idols — none sitting in the region and 
shadow of death — but all breathing a free air, all un- 
derstanding and enjoying their rights and privileges, 
all exercising the kindliest feehngs of heart towards 
one another, and all sending up their anthems of praise 
to the only wise God their Saviour. 

Such, in a word, is the vastness of the enterprise 
undertaken by the Church of Christ on earth — under- 
taken in the name of the Father and the Son and the 
Holy Ghost. And if there be some of the members 
of the Christian Church who regard it as a visionary 
scheme, and thus hold back their influence, and if 
there be others, whose covetousness restrains them 
from a hearty and Hberal co-operation, yet others the 
very best, the most praying and self-denying portion 
of the people of God, have fully enlisted, and to this 
cause have pledged their lives, their fortunes_, and 
their sacred honors. 

Now, brethren, you need not be told that here is a 
demand for your persevering and untiring activity. 
Here is a work that calls for the utmost energies of 
every Christian. Nor need you be told that if Chris- 
tians shrink from their duty in this respect, and fall 
back into a state of apathy and indolence, the cause 
of Christianity, in the view of the world, would suffer 
a defeat aud a disgrace greater than it has ever suffer^ 



136 The demands of the present age upon Christians. 

ed since first published by Christ and his apostles. 
The prejudices which such an issue would engender 
against this heavenly religion, would be far more in- 
veterate and firmly rooted than have ever yet been 
cherished against it by its most bitter foes — and such 
a result, unless heaven should miraculously interpose, 
might be followed by a darkness more palpable and 
dense than ever yet brooded upon the face of the na- 
tions. Let, then, the watchword of Christians be — 
Onward, 

4. Christians of these times should be exceedingly 
benevolent. They ought to feel that they are not their 
own, but Jesus Christ's. The great work before 
them includes the translation, the printing, and the cir- 
culating of the word of God in every living language, 
and for the benefit of hundreds of millions of our race. 
For these purposes, multitudes of men must give their 
time and labor, and must be supported by the benefi- 
cence of the Church. Thousands of laborers are 
needed for the extensive harvest, and they must them- 
selves be taught that they may be able to teach others. 
Expense will necessarily be incurred, and it must be 
borne by the friends of truth. Though the kingdom of 
Christ be not of this world, yet his servants cannot 
live on '^ thin air ;" nor can they multiply copies of 
the sacred scriptures without the necessary materials. 
They must be supported as other men are ; and unless 
the friends of Zion come forward and cheerfully fur- 
nish the means requisite to the achievement of this 
enterprise, itr must sooner or later be relinquished, and 
all the dismal consequences which w^e have contem- 
plated, and indeed immensely more, must be the result. 

We speak thus, not because we apprehend such an 
issue, but that we may all feel how incumbent it is on 
ourselves, as well as on the Church at large, to bear 
true allegiance to our Lord, and, as he requires, to 
yield our substance to the advancement of his cause. 
Until w^e feel ourselves to be the Lord's— that we havQ 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 1 37 

received light only that we may let it shine before 
others — that we have been created in Christ Jesus 
only that w^e might perform good works — that we 
have beeri called into the kingdom of God only that 
we may labor to extend its boundaries — -that we live 
only to show forth the praises of ihe Lord — that we 
possess talents and influence and v/ealth only that we 
may employ them for the honor of him who died for 
us and rose again — we never shall do much good in 
the world — never be the honored instruments of greatly 
advancing the interests of our Redeemer's kingdom 
on earth. 

If such be the Christian character which the circum- 
stances of our times require, something must be done 
for acquiring and improving it. We cannot expect 
that men will be found possessing it, without -passing 
through the necessary training and discipline. Have 
we any encouragement, then, to hope, that modern 
Christians will be such as the wants and the exigencies 
of the age seem to demand ? In cndcal and trying 
times, in the past history of the Church, the Most 
High has often raised up such men as the times re- 
quired. When, in the first promulgation of the gos- 
pel, men of great courage and noble daring were need- 
ed — ^men of great simplicity of character and of an 
unconquerable love for Christ crucified — men who 
would be wiUing to be bound or to die for the name of 
Je.^us— such men w^ere found in the apostles and early 
martyrs who counted not their lives dear unto them-' 
selves in the faithful execution of their duty. And 
w^hen the nations of Europe were to be roused from 
their de^ slumbers in the bosom of popery, and the 
foundations of society were to be shaken, and the deep 
rooted power of Rome was to be set at defiance, God 
raised up men of courage and energy such as the times 
demanded — men who could move at will the tide of 
public sentiment, and cause their voices to ring in the. 
ears of majesty. And w^hen, at a still later periodj 



138 The demands of the present age upon Christians, 

some master-spirits arose, and determined to destroy 
the foundations of our holy religion, and make Chris- 
tianity a reproach and a by-word in the whole earth, 
and to make a dark and cheerless infidelity usurp its 
place, men of an opposite character, and an opposite 
spirit were not wanting, who set themselves for the 
defence of truth, who detected and exposed the falla- 
cy of every infidel argument, and who exhibited 
Christianity as founded on a basis which all the powers 
of earth and hell combined can never shake. 

May we not then hope that He who keepeth Israel 
— He who directeth the affairs of men and nations by 
an invisible agency to their several results, will train 
his own host for the exigencies of the times ? And 
can we not already see, in the heralds which are car- 
rying religious intelligence from the press to almost 
every Christian family — in the many thousands of as- 
sociations for doing good — in the Sabbath Schools and 
Bible Classes where the rising generation are receiv- 
ing the most salutary lessons of divine wisdom — in the 
various and multiplying methods which are devised for 
sending light to such as sit in darkness, a fitness and 
an adaptation of means for the developement and for- 
mation of such a Christian character as the wants of 
the age demand ? Especially in the copious outpour- 
ings of God's Holy Spirit — in the many and precious 
revivals of true religion with which the Church in these 
times is blessed, do v^e not see much to encourage 
our hopes that God will inspire his jpeople with the 
right spirit, and train them for the service to which he 
calls them ? 

It should be remembered, however, that hi order to 
this, means must be employed. Even our own growth 
in personal holiness is not to be effected directly by 
the power of God, without diligence on our part in 
working out our own salvation, and making our calling 
and election sure. 



The demands of the present age upon Christians, 139 

I would observe, then, to acquire the requisite 
character for the age, we should take a deep and lively- 
interest in the means of increasing religious intelligence. 
Every one should make himself acquainted with the 
progress of the gospel in the world — with what God 
is doing for the advancement of the kingdom of his 
Son in the world. More especially by the many facil- 
ities within his reach, he should make himself acquaint- 
ed with the Holy Scriptures, and be able by divine 
testiYnony, to establish, not merely to his own satisfac- 
tion, but to the satisfaction of all candid minds, the 
doctrines w^hich he professes to beheve. And Chris- 
tian parents should see to it, most conscientiously, that 
their children are early taught the duties which they 
owe to their heavenly Parent — that their minds are 
enriched with the lessons of divine truth — and that 
they are trained up in the way in which they should 
go, so that afterwards they may not depart from it. 
No man ought to deem it beneath him, by his personal 
instruction in the Sabbath School, to endeavor to train 
up youthful immortals for the service of God on earth, 
and for his kingdom in glory. It is by bringing di- 
vine truth into frequent contact with the mind, and 
causing its influence to bear on the conscience, that w^e 
may expect success in the work of the Lord. With 
the young this can be effected much easier and better 
by famihar instructions, than by preaching from the 
pulpit. If then you would have those children who 
are now the joy of your heart, w^alkin the footsteps of 
the pious, and become obedient to the faith of the God 
of their fathers, embrace the opportunity which heav- 
en now grants you, and improve it well to establish 
them, so far as human instruction can do it, in those 
doctrines of the Bible which now constitute your great- 
est safeguard and felicity. 

Finally, if Christians would perform what Divine 
Providence seems to demand of them, they must place 
their sole confidence in the power of God, and be 



140 The demands of the present age upon Christians, 

much engaged in seeking his blessing by humble, im- 
portunate prayer. It will be to little purpose that 
Christians attempt to turn back the current of infideli- 
ty which is strongly setting in against them — to little 
purpose that they strive to pour floods of light upon 
the darkened mass of human intellect — that they task 
their noblest energies in the great enterprise of Chris- 
tian benevolence, and part with their property to de- 
fray the necessary and unavoidable expenses of this 
enterprise — unless the Most High do bless them in 
their pious endeavors. The conversion of the soul is 
peculiarly the work of the Spirit of God. In answer 
to fervent^ persevering prayer the influences of the 
Holy Spirit are bestowed — and guided and strength- 
ened by their agency, Christians are qualified for use- 
fulness. 

Ye, then, who make mention of the name of the 
Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he 
establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the whole 
earth. 

And if any of us, hving in such an age as the pres- 
ent, seeing what we do see of the power of God's 
grace, and hearing what we do hear of the truths of 
heaven, should continue impenitent and unbelieving, 
how fearful must be our end — how awfully aggra- 
vated our doom ! May sovereign grace rescue us all 
from the bondage of sin, and qualify us for the service 
of God on earth, and for his glory in heaven. 



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